


Two-Man Rule

by WyrmLivvy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Character(s) of Color, Drama, Friendship, LGBTQ Themes, Multi, Tomarry Big Bang 2017, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 02:45:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 26,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12122820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WyrmLivvy/pseuds/WyrmLivvy
Summary: During his second year at Hogwarts, Harry Potter, a transgender Indian boy, discovers the Chamber of Secrets and its secret - a shapeshifting Basilisk named Voldemort. He becomes the creature’s Master due to his ownership of Salazar Slytherin’s locket. Having been orphaned as a baby due to the murder of his parents by Slytherin-quoting pureblood extremists who hated the Potters’ pureblood-muggleborn marriage, Harry Potter struggles with his hatred of Slytherin even as he is responsible for the Founder’s creature.Since Harry is the Master of the Serpent of Slytherin, he is asked to put Voldemort into work with the Secrecy Commission, a department of the Ministry of Magic that is responsible for upholding the Statute of Secrecy. A reoccurring issue faced by the magical government is the damage caused by beasts and how it could expose the wizarding world. Such beasts may be dangerous to the point where even trained Aurors might get killed, so as an alternative Voldemort is sent on missions to be the beast that subdues other beasts. When Voldemort isn’t on missions, he mentors Harry, and Harry goes about his school life while dealing with the problems that being Voldemort’s Master and having him around brings.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> -Written for the 2017 tomarry bigbang 
> 
> There is no romantic tomarry until Harry's 7th year at Hogwarts. The first half of the fic will cover Harry's 2nd year, then the second half will be a timeskip to Harry's 7th year. 
> 
> Yet again I blame Hellsing, which heavily influences this harrymort|tomarry fic. If you’ve seen Hellsing you can probably see some events come from miles away. 
> 
> Please pay attention to all content notices and warnings, I will post more when they become necessary, thank you.
> 
> This will be a long fic. At least 100,000 words when completed.
> 
> SIGNIFICANT RELATIONSHIPS: 90% of the core cast is trans, Hinny friendship (later romance), Drarry rivalry, brother figure Tom (to Ginny), teaching assistant Tom (to Snape), father figure Snape (to Draco), mentor Quirrel (to Harry), father figure Sirius.
> 
> WARNINGS: dysphoria, transphobia, homophobia, racism, implied/off-screen and on-screen violence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to phoenixrisingdusk for betaing Chapters 1-5!

It was the second week of Harry Potter’s 2nd year at Hogwarts School of Wizarding and Witchcraft, and the school year was shaping up to be an interesting one, judging by the presence of the exchange students from Durmstrang Institute. 

Dressed in their blood-red robes, and their fur cloaks and hats, the Durmstrang exchange students stood out among the general populace of Hogwarts castle. Harry’s feelings about the guests were at first neutral and curious but had turned negative as Ron informed him of the school’s affinity for the Dark Arts and the students’ favor of Slytherin house became clear. The exchange students had dorms on the huge magical ship they arrived in, and for meal times they chose to sit at the Slytherin table. They were currently in the middle of dinner and Harry could see the blood red and brown among the green and silver of the Slytherin table.

Harry’s dislike of Slytherin was not merely due to Ron’s bias. It was for deeply personal reasons, though Harry had not known the majority of them until relatively recently. In an indirect way, Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts and the one who set up Slytherin house, was responsible for the death of Harry’s parents. 

Harry had grown up in the muggle world and was raised in the abusive household of his aunt, Petunia Dursley née Evans - his mother’s sister. He had not known anything of the wizarding world and the politics of blood purity until he was informed by his godfather Sirius, whom Harry now lived with when he was not at school. Harry had done the research, and obtained the old newspaper articles. 

A extremist group of wizards and witches had taken offense at Harry’s pureblood wizard father, James Potter, and his personal choice to marry Harry’s mother, Lily Evans, who had been a muggle-born witch. They had sent James threats, demanding that he avoid “diluting his pureblood” and go marry a pureblood woman instead. James had refused to give into their demands, and in retaliation, the violent and fanatical group had targeted Lily.

Harry’s father had protected her but the fight had resulted in both their deaths. Harry’s godfather, Sirius Black, had received a prison sentence over a decade long for for attacking the extremists with the intent of killing them to avenge Harry’s parents. Sirius had only recently gone free and Harry had decided to live with him beginning the summer after his first year at Hogwarts rather than return to the Dursleys. The extremists were also imprisoned and a trial had revealed they were spurred in part by readings of Salazar Slytherin’s ideology - his obsession with blood purity and the belief muggleborns should be locked out of wizarding institutions such as Hogwarts. Ever since he found out, Harry had despised Slytherin and his house. The newspaper had also mentioned that Lily and James’ baby, a girl, had survived. It had referred to Harry by his birthname - Heather Lily Potter. 

Since he was orphaned at the age of one, he’s had to live with the Dursleys until he was eleven years old. Those were miserable years, where he had been made to live in a cupboard under the stairs, and bullied by Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and his cousin Dudley, who all disdained his brown skin. With such treatment, even when Harry figured he was a transgender boy, he had never considered telling Petunia that he was her nephew and not her niece. 

When Harry had received his Hogwarts letter at age eleven, it had been a wonderful piece of magic to him that the letter had been addressed to a Mr. Harry Potter and not a Ms. Heather Potter. He had thought that going to Hogwarts would be a clean break from having to be referred to as “Heather” if he introduced himself as Harry Potter. However, Harry had not been recognized as a boy because the infamy of that Halloween night preceded him. People tried to call him Heather and some did not stop even if corrected by Harry. 

One of these people was Severus Snape, the Potions teacher and Head of Slytherin, which only furthered Harry’s dislike of that house. When calling on students to answer questions, he addressed Harry by his birthname, even though Harry never raised his hand. He would gave no response when addressed as such because it was not the name he went by thus allowing Snape the excuse to take points from Gryffindor. This angered Harry and upset him because Snape was unfairly biased against him. Draco Malfoy was a Slytherin and also a transgender boy but Snape always referred to Draco by his pronouns and chosen name, along with deducting points from those who misgendered or misnamed him. The same consideration was not extended to Harry.. It was maddening, making Harry hate Potions classes. 

Fortunately, today was a Friday and Harry did not have Potions, but his mood was steadily worsening as he listened in on the conversations the Slytherins were having with with the Durmstrang students. The Durmstrang students were comfortably sharing their waterskins with the older Slytherins, and judging by the red faces of seventh year students, Harry suspected that the containers were not filled with water. 

Draco was saying something about how Durmstrang was better than Hogwarts because the school did not admit mudbloods and emphasized the Dark Arts. Hearing the word “mudblood” come out of the Slytherin’s mouth angered Harry. He wanted to hex Draco, and his anger intensified as the Durmstrang students agreed with pureblood boy’s statements. The exchange students were suppose to be at Hogwarts to see how muggleborn students could be integrated into a magical school, but instead they were going to the Slytherins to confirm their biases. 

Ron and Hermione were not currently at dinner because Hermione and another muggle-born student, Colin Creevey, were attempting to interview some of the exchange students. They thought that by getting to know them better, they would be able to foster a bond between the students of the two schools . 

The task was easier said than done, because so far the Durmstrang students only deigned to interact with Slytherin students. Ron had insisted on following Hermione and Colin to guard them, and Hermione thought the notion was ridiculous. But now Harry was wondering if Ron was right.

His appetite was nonexistent. He needed to leave the Great Hall and cool off. It was too early in the year for him to lose Gryffindor a massive amount of house points by getting into a fight with foreign students. It would most likely result in many more consequences that Harry did not want to deal with.

Harry stood up and felt the weight of the locket around his neck shift as he did so. Harry hated Slytherin, but there was a secret Harry wore on his person - Salazar Slytherin’s Locket. There were several reasons why Harry kept the locket and some were petty. Harry kept ownership of the locket out of the knowledge that Slytherin, a man whose ideology Harry blamed for his parents’ deaths, would have absolutely hated the fact his necklace was in the possession of a half-blood Gryffindor. 

Another reason was the fact the locket had belonged to James Potter and Harry keeping it was akin to holding an inherited item. 

The way that heirlooms and estates were usually passed down in the Black family was through the rules of primogeniture. Regulus, Sirius’ younger brother who also lived in the house Grimmauld Place with Sirius and Harry, had explained to Harry that it meant that major inheritances like heirlooms and estates went to the firstborn sons. Like in fairy tales, the oldest prince gets the kingdom, and pureblood families stuck to such traditions. 

Sirius was a transgender man and his parents had only acknowledged him as their firstborn daughter. But Regulus acknowledged Sirius as his brother, and therefore the elder son and heir in the family, though their parents had never viewed it that way. 

When Harry had first met Sirius, after finding out that Sirius was trans like him, Harry could not help but be inclined to trust him though the man was questionable due to his jail time and lack of presence in Harry’s life until then.

Since Sirius’ parents had not seen him as the older son, the inheritance of Grimmauld Place and all items in it, including the locket, had gone to Regulus. Sirius had not received anything from them. He had been cut from the family and disowned for not believing in pureblood supremacy, being a Gryffindor, and his gender identity. 

Although Sirius had been blasted off the family tree tapestry, there were still pictures of him before he transitioned that were permanently affixed to the walls by sticking charms. The first time Harry had seen the pictures he had asked and wondered where Sirius and Regulus’ sister was. That was when Sirius had disclosed to Harry that he had been assigned female at birth. 

Regulus had believed Sirius should get his due as the elder son and had tried to make amends by giving Sirius the deed to the property. Sirius had refused it and when Regulus had handed him the locket, Sirius had proceeded to casually lose it to James in a bet as part of a card game. It had irked Regulus but he could do nothing once it belonged to James and it went against his pride and propriety to simply demand it back.

And now the locket, in all it’s contradictions, belonged to Harry’s. It was ancient but well preserved. It was once Slytherin’s but it had also belonged to Harry’s father. 

It was one thing for James to have been an owner and another for Harry, a half-blood to have it. Regulus had tried to bring up that the unknown benefactor who had left the locket to the Black family had requested the locket be passed down along a pureblood line, but his speech had not worked and it had resulted in Sirius criticizing Regulus’ prejudice. 

Regulus had apologized, and expressed his worry about the strangeness of Harry carrying such a thing since they were well-aware of Harry’s hatred of Slytherin. 

Harry had admitted that because it once belonged to his father, he did not want to return it to Regulus.Regulus had softened at that and conceded. His godfather also said he was not worried about Harry keeping such a necklace. Expressing pride in the fact that Harry had been sorted into Gryffindor like he and James had been he thought it was fine for Harry to have the locket. 

Harry felt the weight of the locket and his own turbulent emotions as he stepped out of the Great Hall. He headed to a bathroom, wanting cold water to deal with the sweat gathered in the hands he had clenched. 

He didn’t stay long. But once he left, he ran into the last people he wanted to see, not merely the exchange students, but their visiting teachers as well - adult wizards. 

Harry did not walk away yet for he thought it strange that three people in a group were all going into the boy’s bathroom at once.They exchanged words once they entered the bathroom that Harry had just left. Harry had heard the accented sentences by standing outside and behind a wall, outside of their vision. 

“This has to be the right girl’s bathroom. Quickly, find it before another female student enters. You’re the only one among us who can speak it.”

The situation was even stranger to Harry once he registered that the wizards thought they were in a girl’s bathroom because they had seen Harry leave it. 

Harry considered his appearance, which he had seen only moments ago reflected in a bathroom mirror. He never much did like seeing it growing up and that general sentiment had only started changing a bit recently. 

He had thick, dark hair that he kept short. He knew he could be read as a boy from the outset, but only from a distance. Generally people at Hogwarts knew to refer to him as a boy, but the Durmstrang visitors were outsiders. 

And the wizards had seen him up close for they had nearly bowled him over in their haste to enter the bathroom when they had spotted Harry leaving.

Harry was about to reenter the boy’s bathroom and correct them about his gender out of sheer annoyance but it occurred to him that the wizards were behaving rather suspiciously. Why were they in what they thought was the girl’s bathroom and what was the “it” they were searching for?

Harry ducked into an empty hallway and quickly put on the Invisibility Cloak he had in his robe pocket. The cloak had belonged to his late father, James Potter. Dumbledore had given it to Harry last year. As someone who had wished to be invisible many times in his life, it was Harry’s favorite possession and unlike the locket, Harry did not associate the cloak with any negativity. 

Now covered, Harry returned to the boy’s bathroom with a care and dexterity he had employed before in the past, when sneaking into the kitchen of the Dursley house at night for morsels after being denied dinner. He watched as the Durmstrang visitors surrounded the bathroom’s sinks.

 _§“Open.”§_ One of the wizards said after stopping in front of a particular sink that had been pointed out for him.

Harry nearly gasped and gave himself away even as he was invisible. He recognized that the wizard who wore the largest fur hat of the three, had hissed. 

It was Parseltongue. Harry knew what it was because Salazar Slytherin was well-known for having the ability. The locket Harry wore under his robes felt unusually warm and Harry knew his ability to understand the speech was due to it. 

Harry knew he could even speak it. Late in the summer he happened to have the locket with him and discovered he could understand the speech of a garter snake, and he had communicated back. Harry had unintentionally blocked out the sunlight under which the snake was basking and she had wanted him to move aside. Harry had apologized and followed the request. Harry had not found the garter snake unpleasant; rather it was the fact that he had spoken Parseltongue, an ability associated with Slytherin. The locket had felt warm then too and that was what had calmed him - the realization that it did not come from within him but from the long dead wizard’s locket. His uneasy feelings about Parseltongue returned now that he was hearing it again, coming from a wizard that shared Slytherin’s beliefs about muggleborns. 

Harry left the bathroom as the wizards had started arguing with each other about their failure to find what it was that they were looking for. It was certainly perilous but Harry was determined to find what they sought before they did.

“…must find the Chamber of Secrets…” One of the wizards said urgently.

Those were the last words Harry heard before he was too far to hear as he began to move to the other side of the floor - to reach the girl’s bathroom. Harry recognized the words and he knew it was the name of the secret place within Hogwarts that Slytherin was rumored to have secretly built. It’s purpose was riding the school of muggle-borns, but the location was unknown, if it existed at all. He would wonder why foreign wizards were interested in finding it, but he already suspected the reason. Their ideology was aligned with Slytherin’s and they wanted to find the Chamber of Secrets to further their mutual goals. Harry did not want them to succeed in bringing harm to the muggleborn students that studied at Hogwarts. 

It was dangerous to interfere but Harry refused to stand by as the wizards were plotting to hurt muggle-born students. He could tell adults, but Harry was rash and generally did not trust their authority. Harry was wary of adults from experience. They weren’t very dependable and didn’t take Harry seriously even when he was telling the truth and had ample proof. None of the neighbors had done anything about Harry’s grievances on the abuse he had received from the Dursley family. Why would the adults here be any different? Snape was a great example.

Harry was a brown child, with South Asian heritage from his father. He had grown up in a predominately white, muggle suburb, where he had been bullied by his white peers. They stole his school things, called him “curry” and asked him why he didn’t wear a rag on his head. He fought back when it came to the first, but the words hurt in a way he could not defend from.

It didn’t matter that Harry did not show the markers of South Asian culture such as food, clothing, or language. He had been, like Dudley, raised in the culture and environment of the Dursley household and the overwhelmingly white, middle-class suburb of Little Whinging. But he stood out due to his skin color and features. 

Harry’s muggle teachers had reacted to his reports of the bullying by ignoring him. They said he was crazy and was making a big deal of small things. They thought he should know to handle the bullying and his emotions at single digit age. Without the help of adults, Harry had fought back until his bullies understood that it would not be worth it to mess with him. 

At this moment like back then, he depended on himself. Though he now had friends - Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, he did not have the time or desire to involve them in these problems. 

He wanted to find the Chamber of Secrets himself. That way, he alone could decide its fate. If it did exist by any chance he wanted to destroy it in retaliation against Slytherin, whose poisonous ideas had destroyed Harry’s parents. 

Harry hurried toward the direction of the girl’s bathroom.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry was invisible, but he was still glad that there was no one at the girl’s bathroom when he arrived. 

He immediately began to search the bathroom’s sinks, as he had seen the wizards look at the sinks in the boy’s bathroom, even though he only had a vague idea of what he was looking for. 

It didn’t take him long to spot the image of a snake on the side of a tap of one of the sinks. 

The etching startled Harry, for it looked exactly like the serpent depicted on the heavy golden locket Harry wore around his neck. 

Harry pulled it out. Under the Invisibility Cloak, he cupped the Slytherin’s locket in his hands, examining it. 

The locket had an “S” written out in green jewels, and the letter was a stylized snake that curved on itself, the beginning and the end touching in the middle so that it more resembled an “8” or a standing infinity symbol. The serpent’s head laid at its middle, where it swallowed the end of its tail The entire letter a closed loop. 

The sound of approaching footsteps alarmed Harry as he held the locket and looked at the snake on the sink,

 _§“Open.”§_ Harry whispered. 

The image of the snake moved. It was now in a open, circular shape. The snake was no longer biting its tail. 

The sink dropped into the floor, revealing a tunnel that lead downward. 

Harry entered; the sink shut behind him just as the Durmstrang wizards entered. 

—

Harry ran down the paths, which were like a maze, barely ahead of his pursuers. He was in danger - the Durmstrang wizards were certainly aware of him because while he was invisible, his footsteps had not been muffled and had disturbed dust. 

The way was lit by his wand. Earlier, he had casted Lumos, one of the basic spells he knew, but it was not one he could use to slow or injure adult wizards. 

Harry stopped running as he was met with a gate, on which entwined snakes were depicted. Harry felt the same urge to speak to the snakes as he had to the serpent design on the sink in the girl’s bathroom. 

_§“Open.”_ § Harry hissed again, and like before he felt the locket he wore around his neck warm up slightly. Glancing behind him, Harry ran through the opened doors.

The doors opened to a large chamber and Harry looked around with a sinking feeling as he realized he had reached a dead end. To the sides, of him there were rows of snake-head statues and there was nothing at the end but a large statue of a bearded man. Harry recognized it as Salazar Slytherin.

There was a slight gap where the mouth of the statue’s face was. Left with few options, Harry kept running, deciding that he would hide inside. He resented Slytherin, but Harry did not want to be discovered and possibly killed. He could swallow his pride for a moment. Already, he was blaming the man’s locket for getting him into this mess and these events were being added to an already long list of reasons why Harry hated Salazar Slytherin. 

As he ran, out of the corner of his eye he saw a huge piece of molted skin that had to be dozen and dozens of feet long. It was old and gray and may have been green once but he didn’t linger to look closely.

Harry reached the statue and entered it. He stood up and backed away from the mouth opening where he could still see the light outside as opposed to the pitch black inside of the statue.

Harry felt for the the locket in his robes and lifted it out. The inside of the statue’s mouth was larger and roomier than he thought, as well as being darker.

Harry held the heavy locket around his neck. Harry had never opened the locket before and seen its contents. He had tried but it never yielded. 

Now, Harry wondered what would happen if he told it to open in parseltongue like he had done to the sink and gate. 

Glancing up, he could hear footsteps and voices. The wizards were drawing nearer. 

“Come out,” said a heavy, gruff voice.

“Don’t think we didn’t see your footsteps,” said a softer voice, just as dangerous. 

“Surrender willingly and we’ll give you a quick death,” said a third voice that was the most accented of the three but those threat was still intelligible to Harry.

Harry began to retreat deeper into the interior of the statue, but he promptly tripped over something in the dark. 

It caused his cloak to slip off. It left him vulnerable to a mysterious liquid that dripped onto his forehead. 

Harry experienced a harsh, burning pain, and bit his lip to keep from crying out but a sound still slipped out, and it echoed around strangely. He felt a flood of fear and pain but he fought the oncoming paralysis, deciding to cast a spell while he still could. 

“Lumos.” Harry said, barely managing to cast the spell properly. He had to know what had hurt him. 

He looked up. 

There was a massive green snake. Harry could see its head clearly. Its eyes were closed. 

Harry almost laughed, if not for the fact that he was losing his ability to move. He could have guessed as much what sort of creature, what secret it was that was held by this place, which must be the Chamber of Secrets, judging from the architecture he’s seen and the reputation of Slytherin. 

The snake was giant; and not giant by the standards applied to snakes that muggles knew of, where it would be frightening enough if a snake were ten feet long, but this certainly magical serpent Harry did not know the proper name of, was really giant, wider than Harry and easily fifty feet in length at the very least. 

Harry guessed it was a corpse or it would have long react to Harry entering its space. But the body seemed to rise ever so slightly and that was when Harry realized it was not dead but asleep. 

A n expression he’s heard Regulus say before came to mind, between the devil and the deep blue sea. He was struck between two bad obstacles. He could hear his pursuers getting awfully near. They had to be in the hallway leading to the statue. 

Harry was glad the snake was not awake, for it would likely cause him more trouble than it already had. The creature’s eyes were closed and its tail was tucked into his jaw. Harry could see the venom dripping down from its large fangs. 

Harry frowned. It was just his luck he had stumbled and slipped near where some of it had fallen on him. 

It was a struggle fighting off his lightheadedness, though not even a whole minute had not even passed since he was poisoned. 

He considered how he could die from something asleep that had not even purposely wanted to kill him. Harry shakily retrieved his Invisibility Cloak with his free hand even as his forehead throbbed. He covered himself. 

Harry silently stepped back up to the sleeping serpent. He was afraid his legs would give out at any moment and now he was leaning on the creature who had inflicted the condition on him. Harry could feel its scales even with his robes and cloak on. 

As Harry settled, an adult wizard stepped into the statue’s mouth, with a wand lit by a Lumos spell of their own. Of the three Durmstrang wizards, this wizard’s fur cloak was the longest. 

The wizard gasped and for a terrifying moment Harry had recoiled, thinking he had been discovered, but the wizard was responding to the sight of the huge snake. 

“The basilisk,” he said, shocked. 

He stepped out, probably to convey the information to his allies.

Harry let out a brief sigh of relief and held his lit wand to the locket and seeing the infinity symbol-like “S” he thought about how the sleeping basilisk’s pose had oddly resembled the pose of the serpent on his locket, down to the curious position of its head and tail. In the shape of an eight, it “ate” it’s tail…

The wizard with the largest fur hat entered and Harry fought the urge to close his eyes as the pressure behind his eyes intensified. 

_§“Wake up! Arissse!”§_ Fur Hat said, like a general ordering a soldier. 

The basilisk slept on, not reacting. 

The man hissed some more, all variations of the same command that the basilisk wake. He began to cast a series of spells on the sleeping creature and though Harry understood none of them, it all sounded loud and bothersome as the man grew increasingly frustrated with the basilisk not waking. 

Although he himself was in danger, Harry found himself offended on the Basilisk’s behalf. It was surely rude for the wizard to be casting things on a creature that wasn’t even conscious, and the intensity of the spells seemed to be escalating. 

A fourth spell managed to cut off a swath of green scales. 

In its sleep, the basilisk trembled but did not wake. Harry felt its tremors as he was still leaning on the creature. 

This wasn’t fair at all, for it to be attacked while it was helplessly asleep. Harry’s earlier thought resurfaced. What if he told the locket to “open” like he had already said twice to other images of snakes? Would the serpent wake then?

There were surely consequences if it were to wake up but Harry wasn’t going to accept idly standing by while allowing the wizard to hit the sleeping and defenseless basilisk, even if it was one that had accidentally hurt Harry. 

Harry looked at the snake on the locket. _§“Open,”§_ Harry said, finding himself short of breath. 

Through his blurred vision, Harry could see the serpent depicted on the locket shift. It uncurled into an open circle that framed the locket like the one on the sink.

The locket opened and though Harry saw nothing inside he knew something had been released. 

Harry screamed as a spell from the wizard rebounded and hit his arm, causing it to bleed. 

His blood flew into the air and Harry felt the creature he had been resting on move as it caught Harry’s blood on its tongue. 

_§“Close your eyes.”§_ Harry heard the command hissed at him by the now awake basilisk. 

Harry obeyed by promptly fainting, his body overwhelmed by the venom and his bleeding wound.


	3. Chapter 3

Harry woke up alone and in the dark. 

It took him a few moments to look at his surroundings and remember what happened. He was still inside the statue, but his forehead no longer hurt. He looked at the wound on his arm and found it bandaged by black cloth. It felt sore but thankfully wasn’t at the level of pain it had been at previously.

From where he was leaning against a wall, Harry could see light shining in from outside the statue’s mouth.

The lack of pain calmed Harry, but upon realizing that he did not have his wand or cloak, Harry panicked. However, he still had the locket and he squeezed it once to ground himself mentally before emerging from the statue and descending with the aid of the platforms that jutted from the walls of the larger chamber, which he now saw was well lit. 

It was easy for Harry to see the being standing before him. It was a pale and bald snake-faced man dressed in black robes. It was simple to guess and make the connection that this man had to be the previously massive serpent, but in a not-so-good imitation of a human’s form for he was too tall, his hands too spidery, and the facial features were odd - his eyes were red and he had no raised nose but slits like a snake’s. Harry wondered if the black fabric on his arm had come from the man’s robes. 

Harry could not see anyone else in the chamber. Alarms went off in his head. 

“Where did the other wizards go?” Harry asked. He wondered if the wizards had disappeared and the creature had only scared them away, as unlikely as that was. 

The snake-faced man looked bored. _“I ssay you ansswer my questionsss firsst. Why aren’t you sspeaking Parssseltongue? Why do you have a Gryffindor uniform? Please tell me you sstole it form ssomeone as a joke.”_ He hissed, staring accusingly at Harry’s Gryffindor tie. 

Harry did not like the man’s condescending tone. Harry had already been mocked before, especially by Draco Malfoy, who liked to make fun of Harry and Hermione. Draco had initially assumed they were both muggleborns, wizards who came from and grew up in non-magical families and culture. Draco had changed his tune upon find out Harry was actually a half-blood but by then Harry rebuffed any chance of friendship because Draco had been rude first even as Harry thought he could have find solidarity with a student in his year who was also a trans male student. But blood status was of more importance to Malfoy and Harry recalled Sirius telling him it was important to Salazar Slytherin too. And now Harry was standing before a snake that had taken on a human form. A snake that had lived in a place associated with Slytherin. It didn’t take much to guess who the creature was aligned with.

“I can’t really do it unless I’m in front of a live snake.” Harry had decided to answer honestly, deciding it was unwise to try and lie to a creature who had made his pursuers mysteriously disappear. “I am wearing a Gryffindor uniform because I am a Gryffindor.”

The man scowled. _§“Why is a Gryffindor girl - ”§_

 _§“I am a boy, not a girl!”§_ Harry hissed angrily in order to really get the basilisk’s attention. He had managed to do so by looking at one of the snake-head statues that lined the chamber. Harry interrupted the man despite his fear, which was overturned by his anger of being thought of as a girl.

The tall man’s strange red eyes widened in surprise. He tried to look at Harry but Harry avoided his gaze. 

Harry’s eyes wandered and he accidentally caught sight of his own reflection in a large puddle of water. He never much did like seeing it growing up and that general sentiment had only started changing a bit recently. 

Harry’s attention was caught by his forehead. There were blue-white veins streaked across his brown skin, unsubtle and attention grabbing as it resembled lightning forking across a night sky. 

His hand moved to touch his new scar and he pushed aside his hair in order to see it more clearly. 

“You’re welcome.” The snake-faced man said in a surprisingly high voice. 

“What?” Harry said, still looking in bewilderment between himself reflected on the puddle and the pale, bald man. 

“I healed you, boy.” The man replied, sounding like he expected Harry to thank him.

“You poisoned me in the first place.” Harry said sharply, though he was pleased that the man had changed the words he used to referred to Harry. If only other people, namely Snape, were as respectful when corrected. A giant, shapeshifting snake who had probably killed three people just now was better than the Potions teacher in this respect. Harry also considered the wound on his shoulder the basilisk had treated too. 

_§“Yesss and I might again unlesss you sstart sspeaking in the language I know you’re capable of sspeaking.”§_ The man said.

“You didn’t answer my question.” Harry said. “What happened to the wizards?” Harry ignored his threat, figuring the strange creature would have done something by now if he had wanted too. 

_§“I will if you assk me in parsseltongue.”§_

“Then turn back into a Basilisk so I can look at a snake and speak it.” Harry said though he could easily look at the statues. He remembered that the Basilisk had received an injury from one of the wizard’s spells and he wanted to see if it had been healed or treated. 

“Did you just say “look” and “Basilisk”?” The tall man spoke English in disbelief. His red eyes widened as if a thought dawned on him. “Are you a _muggleborn_? Quickly, tell me what is it that basilisks are known for.”

“I’m a half-blood, but I was raised in a muggle family for most of my life.” Harry said. 

The terribly tall man frowned. 

“Basilisks are extremely venomous.” Harry thought of what he knew from recent experience. Harry voice’s faltered as the bald man’s thin nostrils flared in annoyance. That was not the answer then. 

“And are um, huge, and …long lived?” Harry added. Surely it had take a long time to grow to the size Harry had seen him at. 

“You really are ignorant of what is standing before you.” The man sighed, accepting that he would have to communicate with him in English and sounding peeved Harry was not at the level of fear the man thought Harry should be at. “What year is it?” He asked. 

“1993.” Harry answered.

“Oh, then I haven’t eaten anything for about fifty years now. I was hungry, so after I killed the wizards, I ate them.” The creature said, suddenly answering Harry’s earlier question. 

Harry stepped back and found himself back against the statue. The wizards could have killed him but - “You shouldn’t have done that.” Harry said in a voice more steady than he felt. “You could have held them or something so until they could be arrested and- ”

“I was hungry and wanted food. Go get me more.” The Basilisk said, not chasing Harry. “And it’s not “you. My name is Voldemort.” Voldemort tilted his head curiously. “Should I have let them kill you, though you were the one who asked me to open and awaken? I’m getting tired of referring to you as you. What is your name?” 

“My name is Harry James Potter.” Harry said, confidently presenting his name with the added middle name his godfather had suggested he could have. Harry was tired of being called ‘you’ as well. But the mention of food worried him. It was one thing for Voldemort to have eaten those men, but a completely different thing if he attempted to treat Hogwarts and its students as a buffet. 

“Harry James Potter.” Voldemort said, and Harry could hear him taste the name. Harry considered that it had probably been a dangerous thing to do, to give his name when asked, but he had already done it. 

Voldemort bowed.“I am pleased to meet you, _my_ Master.” Voldemort said.

Voldemort stressed the “my” and Harry had a feeling that he was claiming Harry as his, even as he was calling Harry “Master” and making himself a possession of Harry’s.

“Master?” Harry echoed. He was unbalanced by the declaration for he had only heard the word in the context of Grimmauld Place’s house elf, Kreacher, who only grudgingly obeyed Regulus. Voldemort was a lot larger and more dangerous than Kreacher but he referred to Harry with the title in a similar manner. He wanted to please Harry. 

“Yes, that is what I am calling you, you who holds my original Master’s locket.” Voldemort said.

Harry put his hand over his chest and where the locket laid, alarmed that Voldemort knew he had the locket. He blinked at the implication that Salazar Slytherin was the original Master of the Basilisk. Voldemort was very old then. At least a thousand years old. 

“I have already taken in your blood and I, the Serpent of Slytherin, am yours to command.” Voldemort said. “Even if you are an undeserving half-blood Gryffindor.”

Voldemort said the last two words like an insult, which irritated Harry even though Voldemort had basically implied he was bound to Harry being his Master because Harry had the locket and Voldemort had drank his blood. 

Voldemort walked down the Chamber to reach the exit.

Harry had to move at a faster pace in order to follow him and match his speed. It wasn’t fair that Voldemort’s legs were so much longer. He was also slower because his mind was still trying to wrap around this bizarre turn of events. 

“You are now responsible for me. So please get me food.” Voldemort said, sounding absurdly like he was a dog annoyed with Harry for being remiss in providing him with kibble. 

“Voldemort,” Harry said thinking about where they would emerge once they climbed and what food Voldemort could want, “You are not allowed to kill any Hogwarts students. Ever.”

“Is that an order?”

“Yes.”

“Understood.” Voldemort said sounding more like he would entertain Harry’s suggestion. He placed a spidery hand into the pocket of his dark robes and tossed Harry a familiar length of fabric. 

Harry caught his Invisibility Cloak and stuffed it into his robes but remembered that he was still missing his wand. 

He saw that Voldemort was holding two wands, one of them Harry recognized as his own while he wondered if the other was Voldemort’s. 

Harry blinked and wondered if Voldemort was a wizard before he had been a Basilisk. Harry wasn’t sure what a Basilisk was except that it was a type of giant magical snake, but Harry knew what Animagus were because his godfather had told him about them after showing off the ability. Harry pushed aside that theory. Voldemort had said he hadn’t eaten for fifty years and his human form was too weird. It was likely he was foremost a basilisk, yet he had a wand. 

While Harry was wondering at this, Voldemort seemed to be curious about the two wands he had. 

“Who gave this to you?” Voldemort asked. 

“Ollivander. That’s where most witches and wizards get their wands.” Harry said, holding out his hand. He wanted his wand back. 

Voldemort’s red eyes narrowed. “What is it made of?”

“Holly, and the core is a phoenix feather.” Harry answered, recalling what Ollivander had told him. 

Voldemort sighed as if he had received confirmation of something he already knew but had not wanted to be true. Voldemort pulled the hood of his robes over his head and placed Harry’s holly wand onto the small boy’s hand.

He tapped the black cloth he had treated Harry injury with, transfiguring it so part of the cloth merged into Harry’s robes, hiding the bandaged part. 

He turned around to face the exit.

Harry was surprised that he got his wand back, as simple as that, but he did not question it. He put it safely away. 

He pulled out Slytherin’s locket and looked at it again. He remembered the infinity shaped snake unwinding itself into an open circle but now he could see the snake was once again biting it’s own tail, like it had been while in the shape of an eight, except now it was a closed circle shape. Harry frowned, certain there was some significance though he was not sure what it was. He tucked the locket away. 

He followed Voldemort.


	4. Chapter 4

Harry looked at the tunnel leading back up the the girl’s bathroom. 

“How are we going to go upstairs?” Harry looked at Voldemort, expecting him to have a way to leave the chamber he had basically lived in.

“Flying of course,” Voldemort replied.

“You have a broomstick somewhere?” 

“No,” Voldemort said, suddenly scooping Harry up in a bridal carry and flying up the tunnel. Harry gasped in outrage at being literally swept off his feet but did not try to escape the basilisk’s grasp while they were airborne.

The moment they landed in the girl’s bathroom, Harry scrambled out of the carry and pulled a unresisting Voldemort toward one of the stalls. 

Once Harry locked the stall, he turned to Voldemort, who had sat down on a closed seat. 

“Don’t carry me like a princess ever again,” Harry hissed, for the bridal carry was also known as a princess carry and he hated being handled in such a way. 

“Understood,” Voldemort replied looking faintly amused at Harry’s flushed face. 

“Another thing,” Harry said. 

It occurred to that Harry a great deal of unwanted attention would be drawn if Voldemort were to go into Hogwarts’ hallways looking the way he did. Although he was wearing a hood, having it up inside the castle was suspicious. People would ask questions about who he was and why Harry was bringing him inside. 

Harry informed Voldemort of this issue.

“I know.” Voldemort said, and Harry was taken aback. The masculine voice emerging from the dark hood sounded different from what he had heard before.

The surprise intensified as Voldemort’s fingers pulled off the black hood and Harry noticed his fingers weren’t uncannily spidery and pale, but like normal fingers. The biggest change, however was Voldemort’s head. He now had dark hair, and eyes to match. The eyes looked human instead of serpentine. He has a _nose_. Harry also took the look of angular cheekbones and a smugly smiling mouth on a youthful face.

“Why do you look like a teenager?” Harry asked in disbelief. From where the hooded cloak opened Harry could see Voldemort’s outfit had even changed and he was now dressed in a Slytherin uniform, but with different details. For one thing, Voldemort had a blazer on, though from what Harry had seen of the pictures in Grimmauld Place, one hadn’t been a part of the uniforms since the seventies, and the Slytherin crest design was different from what it was now.

“It’s one of my many forms. I’ll use it to blend in as a student here.” Voldemort’s annoying smile widened. “Don’t you like it, Master?” 

Harry reddened as he realized they were many other problems as well. “Voldemort! Don’t call me that. What if someone hears? Just say Harry.”

“Alright, Harry.” Voldemort said. “And likewise it would be strange for you to simply say my name around others. This form is called Tom Riddle.” 

Harry frowned at Tom Riddle. Yes, he did look like he could be a sixth year Hogwarts student but who would recall he had even attended the school instead of having suddenly appeared? All it would take is for a teacher or student to notice and question his whole identity. 

In all likelihood, a Slytherin would notice that there was someone in their ranks who had no history of being there even as he claimed to be one. In the worst case scenario, the Head of Slytherin House - Severus Snape, would be the one to notice. Harry doubted “Tom Riddle” could be sorted into any other house. 

And the form was too distractingly handsome. 

Harry expressed the first worry and not the second. 

“You don’t need to worry about that.” Tom said vaguely. 

Harry shook his head and pulled out his Invisibility Cloak. He held it out to Voldemort. “I think we should hide under my invisibility cloak.” Harry said. 

“You want us to hide under the cloak together?” Tom asked, sounding like it was an incredible hassle he did not want to undertake. 

“Why not?” Harry asked, hearing the complaint in Tom’s tone.

“I don’t hide and you’d slow me down.” Tom said. 

“You were hiding in this place for the last fifty years.” 

_§“I was sssleeping. Sssleeping.”§_ Tom hissed, snatching the cloak. “There’s a difference. I wasn’t hiding but resting.”

Tom stood up and put the cloak over himself, holding out a space for Harry at his side. 

A problem emerged almost immediately once they exited the stall. 

Voldemort’s Tom Riddle form was not as tall as his previous form but he was still much taller than Harry and his strides wider. Again, Harry had to walk faster than normal to match his regular pace or the cloak would cease to cover Harry as Tom moved further ahead. 

Eventually Harry really wasn’t covered by the cloak at all and he could not see where Tom was currently though he had to still be somewhere on the path. Harry couldn’t even hear footsteps. Voldemort’s footsteps could be disturbingly silent when he wanted them to be. 

Harry held the gold locket around his neck. _§“Ssstop.§_ ” He hissed, looking at the snake on the necklace. 

_§“Like I sssaid, you’ll ssslow me down.”§_ Tom said as reappeared after pulling off the cloak. He was smiling, and Harry wasn’t sure if it was because he had proved his point or because Harry had spoken parseltongue again. It was annoying and not charming. 

“You’re petty, and I want my cloak back.” Harry said. 

Tom sighed, walking toward Harry. “Since the problem is you being too slow why don’t you just ride on my shoulders?” He suggested, facing Harry and getting on bended knee. “I would rather not have to match your pace.” 

Harry was not pleased with being insulted but it was true he could not move quickly as him. “I’m heavy,” Harry said, “it wouldn’t be practical.”

“I’m a thousand-year-old Basilisk with a multitude of powers, one of which is shape-shifting,” Tom said. “Do you really think being able to carry a kid that’s barely ninety pounds for a period of time is something I can’t do?” 

Harry wanted to make a move but paused. “Do I sit on your shoulders or put my arms- ” He began to ask. 

“Why the questions?” Tom interrupted. “Just do whatever you’ve done before. Don’t tell me you’ve never had a piggyback ride before.” 

Harry went silent in a way that was confirmatory. 

“You really never had a piggyback ride before?” Tom said, his eyebrows raising. “Maybe you just forgot. Surely a parent or an uncle? Some guardian?” 

“My parents died when I was one,” Harry said as he sat on Tom’s shoulders “And my uncle wasn’t one for giving piggyback rides.” At least not to him. “My godfather offered me a piggyback ride last summer, but I was shy. It didn’t seem proper and I had only known him for a couple of months at that point.”

Sirius Black was his godfather and guardian now and Sirius had offered to carry Harry on the summer day that had been his birthday, but Harry had rejected the offer. It had been a long day of shopping and Harry had picked out many clothes he liked - getting new suits, jackets, and jeans. There had been a lot of walking and Sirius said he could carry Harry if Harry was tried. Harry was, but out of shyness and not wanting to physically burden Sirius (at least not further since he was already carrying many bags, even if they had been charmed to be temporarily lightweight), Harry had rejected the offer. Sirius had not pushed, for he was mindful of Harry’s boundaries. 

“I see.” Tom said, accepting Harry’s explanation and not pushing for further details. 

Tom stood up and startled Harry who was suddenly dizzy and had not secured himself after all. He hadn’t know where to put his hands and now, to stop himself from falling, wrapped his arms around Tom’s neck. 

“Are you trying to choke me to death?” Tom asked and it was teasing, as if something like that could kill him. Harry could feel Tom’s throat move as he spoke. 

“Maybe if you didn’t just rise like that! I had to hold on or fall.” Harry said. He loosened his grip and crossed his arms over Tom’s chest instead. “Sorry.” He added. Harry was glad he could only see the back of Tom’s head at the moment and not his face, because he was embarrassed. 

“Merlin - you really do have no idea how to accept a piggyback ride and I have to be the test subject.” Tom said incredulously. He threw the Invisibility Cloak over them both.

Neither of them said anything more as Tom walked on because the point of the cloak was for stealth and that would be ruined by talking. 

Harry only held back a gasp once they were in a hallway where he saw Ron, Hermione, Colin and a Durmstrang student Harry remembered was called Viktor. It seemed like Hermione and Colin were close to securing an interview but Ron found the student deficient in some way and was rejecting him as a candidate in spite of Hermione and Colin’s clear excitement. But perhaps Hermione’s enthusiasm was why he was complaining. 

Harry immediately informed Tom in whispers that the pale, red haired boy and dark, bushy haired girl were his friends, Ron and Hermione, and that he had to speak to them, but Tom shocked Harry by moving past them without a sound. 

“What are you doing?” Harry growled. “I need to go back and to talk with them.” He said, tugging at Tom’s neck in an attempt to steer him. 

Voldemort remained unmoved. “Since you are riding on my shoulders, where I go is where you will go as well, and I don’t want to go to your friends.” 

“What if I don’t want to go where you want to go?” Harry said, still whispering though there was fortunately no one near their part of the hallway.

“You should have thought about that before getting on my back in the first place.” Tom said. “I decide where the both of us are going.”

“No, we’re going back.” Harry said stubbornly, refusing to be at Voldemort’s mercy. 

Tom appeared unaffected by the pressure Harry was applying to his neck, as well as Harry kicking his leg into his chest in a vain attempt to control the direction Tom was moving in. 

Tom only reacted when Harry put his hands over his eyes and applied the barest hint of pressure as he curled his fingers. _§“Ssstop that at once.”§_ Tom hissed as he stilled.

“You should have thought about that before allowing me to get on your back in the first place.” Harry said, throwing Tom’s earlier words back at him. Harry’s hands were no longer actually touching his face but Harry had not lowered them and they still blocked Tom’s eyes. 

Tom _moved_. 

Harry didn’t have the time to react - he lost the feeling of resting on something solid, but the sensation of falling through air was brief as he found himself again being carried by Tom. 

Though the Invisibility Cloak fluttered, it had not failed to cover them in that time. And instead of piggybacking, Harry recognized that he was now being held like a sack of potatoes. His hands were at Tom’s back and he could no longer go for Tom’s eyes. He could not quite kick either as Tom’s arm was wrapped tightly around his feet. Harry sighed and decided he would give up resisting because Voldemort had taken into consideration what Harry had said about not wanting to be carried like a princess. 

“I’ll have no more complaints from you.” Tom hissed. “We are going to the destination I have in mind. Do not go for my eyes again.”

Tom continued to walk, his footsteps silent as he navigated the moving stairways.

Harry was silent until he saw that they were standing in front of a large and intimidating looking gargoyle statue. 

“Where are we?” Harry asked when Tom set him down, thinking that Tom had not actually told him what their destination was and neither had Harry asked. 

“The entrance leading to the Headmaster’s Office.” Tom said, looking at Harry. “Right now Albus is probably dealing with the rest of the people apart from those that attacked us in the Chamber.”

Harry furrowed his brow at Tom using Dumbledore’s first name. It sounded familiar and casual. He realized that Tom was right about the wizards being a small part of the larger group that had been scheduled to meet with Hogwart’s Headmaster. They were suppose to discuss the exchange program but if they had ill intentions, in all likelihood there would be skirmish in the office. 

No wonder Tom had disagreed with allowing Harry to stop and speak with his friends when this was going on. Harry also regretted how he had bothered and distracted Voldemort on their way here. 

_§“Ouroborosss.”§_ Tom said. The statue reacted at once, shifting to reveal an open staircase.

Harry doesn’t comment to ask about why that was the password and how Voldemort knew it. He worried they had already wasted enough time. They both climbed the stairs, with Tom taking off the Invisibility Cloak and returning it to Harry before they ascended.

Tom marched ahead.


	5. Chapter 5

The moment Tom opened the doors he found himself the target of four wands. 

Harry, who was standing behind him, saw that there were around a dozen people in the large, circular room, not including the two of them, and of that dozen, only five were conscious. He was not invisible as the cloak was back in the pocket of his robes. There were signs of damage all around the room and there was a pile of ashes on the floor. 

Headmaster Dumbledore was standing with his arms to his sides while Professor Lockhart, Professor Quirrell, and Professor Snape all had their wands trained on Voldemort. Hagrid had his initially had his pink umbrella pointed at Tom too but lowered it as his eyes sparked with recognition. 

Tom directed a dark smile at the ashes littering the ground. 

“Ah. Looks like we missed the action, Harry,” Voldemort said, brushing invisible lint off his immaculate robes. There was no trace that Harry had kicked him several times on their way here. 

Meanwhile, Lockhart’s usually perfectly brushed hair looked singed, and so did Hagrid’s beard. Quirrell's turban was askew and there was dried blood on his brown skin. There was a cut on the arm of Snape’s black robes that revealed the pale flesh underneath. Only Dumbledore appeared undamaged. 

Harry supposed he looked off too as his Gryffindor tie was askew. There was also the matter of his new scar and he quickly parted his hair in such a way he hoped would adequately cover his forehead.

“H-harry, as in Harry P-Potter?” Quirrell stuttered at Tom’s words. 

“Tom Riddle?” Hagrid said at the same time, staring at Tom like someone who seeing a sweetheart that had returned from a long war.

“Rubeus,” Tom’s smile became softer and genuine, “long time no see.” 

Harry could not believe that like with Dumbledore, Tom had also referred to Hagrid by his first name. 

“What happened here?” Harry asked with a shocking amount of confidence, and like one that expected to be given answers. 

Quirrell, Lockhart and Snape were all taken aback and even Dumbledore’s eyebrows rose.

Hagrid’s mouth opened to say something but was interrupted when a groan was heard as one of the bodies on the ground moved. 

Lockhart turned his wand but Quirrel was faster. 

“Stupefy,” Quirrel said, restunning the wizard that had almost awoken.

Dumbledore said something to Snape that Harry could not hear and Snape lowered his wand too. 

Now there were no wands pointed at Tom. 

The Hogwarts staff members and the Headmaster convened and exchanged a few murmurs and Harry wished he was not as distant or short as he was so he could hear.

Only Hagrid’s louder voice could me made out. He said something about how Tom looked exactly like he had in the 1940s.

Snape made a sound of discontent as he noted that Hagrid could be heard. 

There was another flurry of exchanged words and Harry found himself and Tom being escorted out of the office by Hagrid.

Harry followed Tom, who was following Hagrid all the way down the stairs and into a nearby empty classroom before Harry realized the ludicrousness of what was going on. 

They had walked out without receiving any answers. Harry stood on a chair and cupped his hands, whispering his complaint into Tom’s ear.

Tom quirked an eyebrow but ignored Harry’s words, causing the Gryffindor to step off the chair with an annoyed huff. 

“Harry, where have you been?” Hagrid asked. “How did you find him?” He was asking Harry but his eyes kept drifting to Tom. 

Hagrid threw a flurry of questions at Harry, asking about his health, safety, and even his sanity. Was he a parselmouth? Had Tom done anything to him? 

Harry wondered how much he should share, if at all. Though Hagrid was friendly and Harry had pleasant memories of having tea in the groundskeeper's hut with Ron and Hermione during first year, Harry was wary of the consequences that could result from him speaking. He was already disturbed that Hagrid had such accurate suspicions. How much did Hagrid know about Tom? It seemed that they met before, many times before today. Did he know that Tom was a actually a giant snake and that was why he wondered if Harry was a Parselmouth? 

Harry was overwhelmed by the questions and he would rather not tell unless he had to, probably when the Dumbledore called for him and Tom. He would share it then, in front of enough people at once so he could control his story rather than having it conveyed by Hagrid to the professors. He doubted he could hide a secret as large as Voldemort, though the snake had kept himself hidden well enough in the school. At least until he had woken up and consumed three wizards. Harry was still not sure what would happen between Hogwarts and Durmstrang’s exchange program now that it turned out the teachers sent over had the hidden mission of trying to steal the a giant magical snake that Slytherin had placed in the school over a thousand years ago. 

“What happened to your forehead, Harry?” Hagrid in a horrified voice. 

Harry had turned his head and the movement had shifted his bangs enough to reveal his scar. 

“It doesn’t hurt,” Harry said. Not currently. “Don’t worry about it.” He ruffled his hair to cover his forehead again. 

Hagrid reached out in an attempt to move Harry’s hair out of the way so he could see the forking lightning shaped scar more clearly. 

Harry backed up. He felt the weight of the locket around his neck.

“I’m fine,” Harry insisted. He did not want to be fussed over though Hagrid’s touch was as gentle as always. 

Tom gripped Hagrid’s arm and pushed him backwards easily as one would an infant despite Hagrid’s size and strength.

“You’re asking the poor boy too many questions, Rebeus.” Tom said. “What about your questions for me? I know you’re dying to ask me.” Tom gestured at Harry’s forehead, “and since you’re wondering, I did that. Bit of a long story but he’s fine now. We will just have to be patient until Albus gets things sorted,” Tom said, sounding quite like he doubted Dumbledore to get anything done in a timely fashion. “Until then you’re stuck babysitting.”

Hagrid pulled his arm out of Tom’s grasp. Harry noted with relief that Hagrid didn’t appear to have been hurt by the grip though it had to be a strong one.

“You haven’t changed,” Hagrid said. 

“You’ve changed, but I can also guess you haven’t,” Tom said. “Are you still fond of dangerous things?” Tom said softly. He leaned in closer.

In response, Hagrid backed away. It was strange to Harry to see the physically larger man back away from Tom. 

Harry wondered at the history he was not privy to. 

Hagrid moved until he was the the desk in the front. Neither the chair to the desk was built for him but he sat down anyway. He pulled out parchment from his robes and announced that he would be working on future lesson plans for when he could teach a class that he was still in the early stages of planning for. They would wait until Dumbledore would speak to them. He hoped Harry and Tom would behave in the meantime. Hagrid tried to hide his face with paper that was not large enough, clearly avoiding having to converse with Tom. 

Tom sat down and Harry picked a desk next to his. 

“Maybe people will look at my forehead now instead of my eyes,” Harry said, “so thanks for that.” 

“You’re thanking me for scarring you?” Tom said, quirking an eyebrow because Harry had not sounded wholly sarcastic. 

“Yes, because maybe people will notice the scar first now instead of my eyes,” Harry said.

Light eyes with brown skin stood out. People tended to notice Harry’s green eyes, be they magical or muggle. To Harry’s dismay, upon entering Hogwarts, Harry found out that wizards and witches also thought it was a novelty that Harry could have green eyes and melanin at the same time, despite the fact that they could make feathers levitate by waving a stick and saying a couple of words.

Harry mentioned how the blond, blue-eyed Professor Lockhart had commented as much about how unusual Harry looked in addition to remarking about Professor Quirrell's pale blue eyes and brown skin. 

Last year, Quirrell had been the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor but this year he had returned to teaching Muggle Studies while Lockhart took the position. It had only been a week into the school year but Harry had already formed an opinion on Lockhart’s abilities as a DADA professor and it was a decidedly unimpressed one. Quirrel, though boring, had been more competent. 

Lockhart didn’t bother Quirrel after his initial notice, nor Harry, but just like last year, Snape still looked when he thought Harry wasn’t paying attention. Harry wondered about the true extent of the three professors’’ abilities, and Hagrid’s as he thought of how they and Dumbledore had defeated the wizards in the office. 

Harry knew Snape disliked him, judging by his first year at Hogwarts, when Snape had used any excuse he could to deduct points from Gryffindor because of something Harry was involved in and constantly referred to him by his birth name. Snape also took the time to refer to Harry in gender neutral terms though Harry made it clear from the start his pronouns were male. It was not outright wrong as referring to Harry as a girl was, but all male students were “Mr.” Draco was called Mr. Malfoy and Snape took the time to correct people who tried to refer to Draco as a girl, and to dock points as well, so Harry recognized that being called “Potter” without “Mr.”, was a calculated slight. 

When Harry had explained his experience to Sirius, the man had been furious and ready to locate Snape and start a fight with him. 

Regulus and Harry had worked to calm Sirius down because he could not afford to get into any trouble that would send him back to Azkaban. It had been a dreadful experience and though Sirius had not talked about it to Harry, Harry had listened in on conversations between Sirius and Regulus about his time there. Harry learned of the prison’s awful guards, the Dementors. Harry had never seen one before, but from Sirius’ descriptions, he had developed a fear of the cloaked wraiths that drained happiness and induced despair in those they guarded. Harry really did not want Sirius to face them again and attacking Snape really would get him into trouble so Harry had stressed to Sirius the lengths Snape was going to when it came to helping Draco and Sirius had calmed down, though he was confused as Harry was about how Snape could support Draco while being the opposite with Harry. 

Harry’s train of thought was disrupted by the sound of fluttering pages and he turned to see that Tom had produced a book from the depths of his robes and had opening it, placing it flat on the desk so one half rested on his desk while the other was on Harry’s. 

It was a blank diary, which Tom proceeded to write on with a quill.

Harry looked at the page. 

Tom was drawing something circular on the page. . 

It started out simple but he gave it shading and form until the serpent was so life-like that one could believe a real snake was resting on the page.

“What are you drawing?” Harry asked, thinking about the image of the snake on Slytherin’s locket. The picture on the page was similarly that of a snake biting its own tail. 

“An Ouroboros,” Tom said, sounding unimpressed with Harry’s lack of knowledge, “the serpent eating and looping in on itself endlessly - self-consuming and self-sustaining at the same time, a symbol of immortality.” 

Harry recalled he had heard the word recently, in parseltongue. It had been the password Tom used to enter the Headmaster’s office.

He looked at Tom’s drawing. The snake’s eyes were closed and was consuming it’s own tail in a closed, infinite, and _immortal_ loop. 

“What would happen if the snake wakes up and stopped eating its own tail?” Harry asked. “If the circle is broken, won’t the immortality be broken too?” 

“Yes,” Tom said, “so why would it ever want to wake?”

Harry thought about answering the question but someone else answered it first. 

“Because he hates being struck.” Hagrid said. 

Harry startled, he had forgotten Hagrid was there, which was quite a feat, considering the man’s presence. Harry had been too focused on Tom’s drawing and words. 

“Sorry, Harry.” Hagrid said apologetically. 

“It’s alright.” Harry said, looking at Hagrid expectantly, he wanted to hear Hagrid explain further. “What do you mean by that?” He was interested in Hagrid’s pronoun choice. Harry had thought of the snake neutrally. But Hagrid and called it “he”. 

Hagrid hunched, trying to make himself smaller to shy away from the attention he was receiving but it wasn’t much effective, considering his frame. “I mean if he’s biting his own tail it means he cannot give another his bite or his venom. His closed eyes can’t sight prey and a held tail can’t move him forward in a chase. His weapons are sheathed onto himself. In this tamed form he is the least dangerous to others and the most safe to his immortal-like self…but it’s boring to stay safe in a suspended sleep when he could wake up and cause trouble.” 

Tom smiled. “Excuse me, I am only here to continue the duty Salazar tasked me with. 

“What duty?” Harry said, turning to Hagrid and hoping for an explanation that was less biased than one Tom could possibly give. 

Hagrid opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the arrival of Quirrell. 

“Mr. Riddle, the Headmaster will speak to you.” Quirrell said. He avoided eye contact with Tom even as Tom tried to make it. 

Harry moved to follow but Quirrell shook his head. “You stay here for now, Mr. Potter.” He said. 

Tom closed the diary he held and placed it in Harry’s hands. “We can talk later. Keep this with you and write into it if you need to tell me something.”

Harry looked at the diary in his hands with undisguised irritation. 

Tom looked at him expectantly.

Harry sighed and pocketed the diary, thinking about how much he didn’t want to keep a diary. _Girls_ kept diaries. 

He watched Tom leave the room with Quirrell. 

Harry pocketed the diary and turned to Hagrid, who sat on a desk. 

Harry listened as Hagrid begin to tell him a story. It had a lot of information, but at the same time Harry felt that Hagrid was leaving out significant portions.

Salazar Slytherin had created a secret chamber in a newly found Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, leaving a basilisk inside to protect the school in case of attack by muggles. He enchanted a locket of his so that a future user may use it to control the basilisk and assist it in its duty of protecting Hogwarts. A basilisk could defeat a large amount of enemies at once. 

Traditionally, the locket was a possession of purebloods sorted into Slytherin, especially Salazar’s descendants, but in recent centuries it has ended up in the hands of those outside of the category. 

Harry realized that Harry had the locket of Slytherin’s that controlled the basilisk. He now knew that was what Voldemort was, but he did not have the details of what being one meant. 

Hagrid stressed that Slytherin had not tasked the Basilisk with attacking muggle-borns but only with the duty to protect the students of the school, which included the muggle-borns the other Founders took on as students but Salazar disliked doing himself because of the security hazard he considering them as during a time period where wizards and witches suffered intense persecution at the hands of muggles. Voldemort had to protect the school from enemies, whether it was muggle, wizard or beast. 

Harry wanted to doubt Hagrid’s words, but Hagrid had no reason to speak well of Slytherin. If Slytherin had been willing to give his basilisk instructions to protect the students of Hogwarts, including the muggle-borns, how did it happen that today the rumors about the Chamber of Secrets was about how it had a creature meant to kill muggle-borns? 

Harry thought about how the people who thought they were following Slytherin’s legacy had behaved and used Slytherin’s supposed beliefs to justify their actions. Harry thought about how his parents had been killed by such people. 

Harry wanted to know why Voldemort had let twisted and made-up stuff about Salazar spread, and be used to justify horrible things, when as a living witness Voldemort could have actively fought the rumors so people would remember Slytherin correctly. 

The people who had murdered Harry’s parents had used Slytherin’s anti-muggleborn sentiment as the justification for their actions. Voldemort had not fought the lies in his thousand years of existence. Harry began to feel resentful then, and in a convoluted way, thought that perhaps the basilisk could be blamed for Harry’s loss. 

Harry wished that Voldemort was still there so he could yell at him.

As if on cue, Quirrell returned to the room, asking for Harry to come back to the Headmaster’s office. 

Harry exited the room, waving Hagrid goodbye and thanking him for the information.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry was once again back in the Headmaster’s Office. Tom was already present with Dumbledore alone and Professor Quirrel followed Harry into the office.

Harry also saw that the ashes he had seen on the floor were no longer vacant. Instead, a bright red baby bird was resting on the pile. 

“Do we really have to speak with him here?” Tom asked, gesturing at the ashes with offense. 

“W-what?” Quirrel stuttered, clearly taken aback at Tom’s tone and sounding like he thought himself the target of the remark. But a look clarified that Tom was not paying attention to him at all but instead was glaring at Dumbledore’s pet phoenix, who was currently a newborn. 

“Yes, Fawkes does have to be.” Dumbledore answered, standing up to pull aside a chair for Harry.

Harry took his seat gratefully, marveling at the baby bird sitting in the ashes. The moment Dumbledore left his desk, Tom strode over and took it by seating himself in the Headmaster’s chair and proceeding to cross his legs over the desk. 

Harry’s mouth opened in sheer disbelief over Tom’s disrespectful actions but Dumbledore did not appear offended at all. 

“It’s quite alright, Harry.” Dumbledore said, gesturing for Harry to remain seated because Harry appeared ready to get up and push Tom off his seat physically. “This is perhaps better than me speaking to you over the barrier of a desk.” Dumbledore said, sitting in the chair across from Harry that he had placed for Tom. 

“Am I right to assume that Hagrid has told you about the locket? May I see it?” Dumbledore asked. 

Harry recoiled, holding his hand protectively over his heart, against which the locket currently rested. Harry did not want to part with it. It had been his father’s and now it was his. But Harry considered that Dumbledore had given him James’ Invisibility Cloak last year.

Harry reluctantly pulled out the locket from where it was hidden under his clothes.

Dumbledore confirmed to Harry the things Hagrid had already told him about the basilisk’s origin and purpose. He also explained to Harry the department of the Ministry of Magic called the Secrecy Commission and its role in upholding the Statue of Secrecy. Traditionally, the Serpent of Slytherin’s Master had a place in the Commission and they were to assign the basilisk onto special tasks that involved subduing magical beasts. The basilisk was a specialized weapon for this purpose and more suitable than expending wizards or witches on such critical missions. If Harry kept the locket he would have to take on the responsibly. 

“Harry, this is a very big responsibility and it’s not one you have to take.” Quirrel said, holding out his hand. 

Harry stared. Did Professor Quirrel seriously expect him to hand over the locket? It came with dangers and obligations but Harry could not see himself parting with it easily. It held sentimental value and already brought him trouble he wanted to pay it back for by stubbornly keeping it. He glared. 

“I-It’s fine if you want to k-keep it.” Quirrel said, sounding like that was the last thing he wanted. “We just w-want you to be aware of what a responsibility it is.”

“It would be difficult for Voldemort’s Master to change, as he has already consumed your blood.” Dumbledore said. Dumbledore told Harry that he and the staff would handle everything involving the members of Durmstrang that had attacked the people associated with Hogwarts. 

Harry crossed his arms and wondered how much Voldemort had already told to Dumbledore. 

“I know I have to be responsible.” Harry said, handing the locket to Dumbledore. “He’s a giant, magical snake.” The largest thing he’s ever taken care of was Hedwig, who was completely different, being small bird instead of a giant reptile. 

Dumbledore took the locket and stood up, walking over to Fawkes. 

Harry felt bereft but was distracted by Quirrel’s voice.

“Do you kn-know what nuclear w-weapons are, Harry?” Quirrel asked.

Harry wondered where that comparison came from. He had a feeling he was missing some crucial information. 

Harry looked at the Muggle Studies Professor. “I do.” Harry said. Of course he knew what they were. Before researching further from a book, he had seen mushroom clouds in cartoons he had caught when he woke up really early before any of the Dursleys did on Saturday mornings, getting in half an hour if he timed things carefully. 

“Have you heard of the Two-Man Rule?” Quirrel asked.

Harry thought about it. “No,” Harry said. It was an unfamiliar phrase to him. 

“The general concept is this: for something particularly dangerous, such as the use of an extremely powerful weapon, there are control mechanisms in place to keep it from being used easily.” Quirrel said. “One such rule is the two-man…which basically means the use of a weapon would require the authorization of two people to activate so that no one person can release something. Each person would hold one key to a total of two locks or one half of a whole passcode.” Quirrel said, “Though the rule of requiring two authorized people for access also applies to protecting valuables, casinos use this mechanism, and pharmaceutical comp - ”

“By something you mean a nuke?” Harry said, standing up and interrupting Quirrel’s nervous rambling as he tried to wrap his mind around the Professor essentially suggesting that Voldemort was a nuclear weapon. 

“Erm, yes.” Quirrel nodded. “The locket and your authority is one of the keys, but Voldemort has the other. He is always ready to place his key inside the lock and turn it, which means he only needs your order to move forward. If he tries to get you to use him, you must resist the temptation, because he will attempt to push you into granting him permission. A basilisk is not to be used lightly - it is imperative that you only allow him to move forward in the most dire of situations, Harry.” 

Quirrel smiled weakly in a transparent attempt to relax the tension in the air but it was weak and Harry couldn’t return one as he had been just told he was responsible for holding the leash of a nuclear weapon that wanted to be unleashed. The dreadful air only increased after Quirrel said an obviously relieved “goodbye” before leaving the room, having finished what had probably been required of him. 

“It’s amazing the sheer madness that muggles get up to…even wizards hadn’t produced something quite like that yet.” Tom said, twirling a familiar holly wand between his fingers. “But one key or two…does it really make a difference?”

Harry stared, wondering when Tom had stolen his wand again though he had returned it earlier. He had gotten too wrapped up in Quirrel’s words and Dumbledore had gone quiet instead of speaking. Dumbledore was holding the locket but his calm, unreadable eyes were on Tom. 

Tom uncrossed his feet and returned the look. “And with such pathetic controls. Two man is only slightly more secure than one man and there is no difference if the two people are so close that their will and souls are like one, as you experienced one summer…but death has a way of severing bonds.” 

“What?” Harry said. He did not know what Tom was talking about at all except that he may have just threatened to kill someone. 

Dumbledore took a half step forward in Harry and Tom’s direction. It was subtle and swift, which made it all the more frightening. Harry froze and lost the rest of his words. Tom still had his holly wand in hand and Harry thought he almost saw Tom drop it mid-fiddle. 

“I understand such a control can be effective if there is no such bond or if the bond breaks…” Voldemort continued. “If hearts that once beat as one no longer do and feet that once marched together moved out of step. If one man has ceased to move forward while the other man goes forward with grand plans. Then the one who stays behind tries to hold the other back.” 

“I trust Mr. Potter will not align with your goals.” Dumbledore said. “He is aware of the severity of your use and will restrict you. A lock which requires two keys will not open with the application of one. If one person of the two does not allow it, the door will never be opened.” He returned Slytherin’s locket to Harry, who was getting much aggrieved at the two of them referencing histories he was not privy to at all. 

“Yes, I suppose so.” Tom said, stilling the hand that held Harry’s wand and reaching his empty hand into his robes. “That’s your logic for allowing me to keep this, isn’t it?” Tom asked, pulling out a yew wand. 

As he was tucking the locket back under his robes, Harry frowned, noticing the wand was longer than his was. He was also shocked by Fawkes’ attention suddenly shifting from Dumbledore to Voldemort. 

The bird had turned its beak toward the seated shapeshifter, its keen eyes focused on the two wands Tom held in his hands. 

Harry walked over to the desk. Now that he had his locket back he was also intent on getting his wand back from Voldemort. 

“Indeed.” Dumbledore confirmed. 

“You’d die permanently before I’d allow it.” Voldemort said, facing Fawkes. 

Fawkes produced a loud and angry sound, surprising Harry by its intensity coming out of the small form. 

Tom held out his hand and Harry blinked, realizing that Tom was returning his wand to him.

Harry opened his palm but Tom didn’t hand it to him. “Can you deny me forever, Master?” Voldemort asked, “If you’d just give me permission, there are many things that can be done with me - _for the greater good_.”

“Using a nuclear weapon isn’t very justifiable.” Harry said, snatching back his wand. 

Harry was going to pocket his wand but instead he wielded in his hand, suddenly ensnared by the sound of birdsong. 

Fawkes was singing a beautiful piece that sounded like a plea. It was full of yearning and a desire for freedom. The emotions touched Harry, who wanted to do anything he could to grant it to Fawkes, though he had no idea how. 

_§“Promissse him nothing.”§_ Tom said. _§“He’ss dangerousss.”§_

Fawkes, dangerous? Harry thought. It was odd hearing that from Voldemort. Harry didn’t know much about Fawkes, but for Tom, Harry’s frame of reference was the fact the basilisk had poisoned him and eaten three people. All Fawkes had done was singing, surely that wasn’t such a danger? 

“Are you just going to let him do that?” Tom said to Dumbledore. “I may have gone too far with those last words but you’ll allow our school to possibly get destroyed?”

Dumbledore was humming to the tune Fawkes was producing. 

“I wouldn’t allow you to destroy Hogwarts, Voldemort.” Harry said coldly. The music tickled his ears and he wanted to point his wand at the basilisk. He did.

Dumbledore had stopped humming. 

“Not, me. Him.” Tom said, gesturing at Fawkes as he put his wand away, facing Harry empty-handed while the small boy pointed his weapon at him. 

“Bring out your wand.” Harry said, unsure if those were his words or birdsong he was translating. _§“Duel me, or are you afraid you’ll lossse again, crown-lessss king?”§_ The sound was crawling into his head and making a puppet out of his tongue. The unpleasant feeling clashed with the wondrous qualities of the song which reached his heart. 

Tom’s eyes flashed with loathing but the gaze was not directed at Harry but toward at Fawkes, who had only gone quiet once Dumbledore touched his fingers under the phoenix’s beak. 

Voldemort walked past the wand pointed at him and Harry lowered it, wondering what had gotten into him. He hadn’t desired to fight Tom but the beautiful music had wanted him to. Now that it stopped, Harry felt more clearheaded and he could recognize Tom was very displeased and angered to the point of violent fury. 

Tom was squatted by the pile of ashes, ready to fight Fawkes and possibly Dumbledore too. 

Harry didn’t know how to alleviate the situation, and impulsively he grabbed a nearby black hat from a nearby table and placed it on Tom’s head, covering his eyes so he wouldn’t find his target and hoping it made up for whatever headgear he supposedly lacked which had triggered his anger. 

“SLYTHERIN!” The hat bellowed upon barely touching Tom’s hair. “You! Merlin’s robes! I did not miss having to see the inside of your mind! Who put me on his head?”

“I did, sorry.” Harry said, pulling the hat away once he realized it was the Sorting Hat. 

Dumbledore and Voldemort were surprised enough by the words that their attentions were turned away from Fawkes, who’s attention was also toward the hat and Harry. 

“By your current form, will you be integrated into the school again as a student?” Dumbledore said to Tom. “You may move into the Slytherin dungeons immediately. Severus has prepared a space.” 

“Hmm. As if I’d be anything else.” Tom said, obviously pleased to be declared a Slytherin. 

His almost smile disappeared when he saw Harry struggling with a Sorting Hat that suddenly got heavier. 

Harry worried; hoping he had not accidentally damaged the school’s irreplaceable artifact by placing it on a basilisk in human form. 

The weight solidified in Harry’s hand once he separated it from the hat. He found himself holding a silver longsword, encrusted with rubies. 

“Gryffindor’s sword.” Tom said, naming the item while making it sound like curse words. “You drew his sword…”

Dumbledore explained the lore of the blade to Harry, about how only a true Gryffindor could pull it from the Sorting Hat. 

“Put it back where you found it.” Tom said. 

“No,” Harry said, liking the weight of the weapon in his hands. “I’m not putting you back where I found you and you’re a Slytherin thing. This is a Gryffindor thing and I’m keeping it.” He liked that it was proof he was not so tied to Slytherin, even if he did have the Founder’s locket and serpent. 

Harry whirled around when he heard the door open. 

Snape walked into the room, frowning when he saw the sword in Harry’s hand, which was pointed at him. Quirrel was behind him and he blinked in surprise at the weapon too, but instead of commenting on it he faced Dumbledore, informing the Headmaster that Lockhart wished to speak with him. 

Dumbledore acknowledged the messaged and excused himself, leaving the room after informing Harry that Voldemort was capable of teaching him how to fight with a sword. It could be kept in Dumbledore's office until Harry wanted to make use of it.

Tom didn’t deny it but he looked cross and stuck between glaring at Fawkes or at the Gryffindor’s sword when he could not do both. 

“Can you point it at him?” Tom asked, gesturing at Fawkes. 

“No,” Harry answered, and attempted to swing the blade in his hand in a dismissive way, only for it to nick the side of a nearby desk. “Ahh.” Harry squeaked, now keenly aware the sword was truly a weapon and a dangerous one at that.

Snape’s eyes narrowed. “Have you really imparted to this child the depths of responsibility required for such a creature?” Snape asked Quirrel. 

Harry set the blade down flat on the desk, irked by being referred to as “child” instead of “boy.” 

“I have,” Quirrel insisted. 

“You don’t know what you’re doing.” Snape said to Harry while sounding like he was addressing Quirrel too. 

“I know what I’m doing and I’m keeping him.” Harry said. 

“This is not like accepting some stray. He is an ancient basilisk, capable of - ”

“I get it!” Harry said.

Harry was ready to leave now, he had enough of being lectured at. 

“Heather Potter, do you really understand?” Snape snapped. 

Harry whirled around though he had thought nothing would have gotten him to stay longer. The stress of this whole ordeal finally caught up with him and the last thing he needed to hear right now was his birthname. 

Harry couldn’t even associate that name with anything but pain and viciousness because of the Dursleys and his Aunt Petunia’s use of it, and Snape, another adult that bullied him, was using it. 

Harry was furious, seeing red.

_§“Oh, Heather isss the name you were given at birth?”§_ Tom said. _§“What a lovely name.”§_

_§“Ssshut up! I don’t want to hear that again.”§_ Harry said, replying in parseltongue just because Tom had and because he was upset that Voldemort now knew his birthname though he had previously been someone in the castle who did not know it. _§“Make him ssstop.”§_ Harry commanded. 

_§“I know all sssortss of magic. I could make your birthname a Taboo.”§_ Voldemort suggested. _§“If anyone ssayss that name…I can make it sso that ssssomthing will happen to them.”§_

_§“Interesssting.”§_ Harry said. Quirrel had warned him that Voldemort would impress and manipulate Harry into abusing his powers, and Harry found himself tempted all the same. It was a heady feeling to know that a powerful creature was offering to do such a thing for him. 

__Voldemort made eye contact with Snape._ _

__The Potions teacher blocked the exit, his was wand raised at Tom although he was glaring at Harry._ _

__“Did you order him to try and remove my knowledge of your name from my mind?” Snape asked accusingly. “I still know you are Hea - ”_ _

__“My name is Harry, not Heather.” Harry snapped angrily._ _

__The Gryffindor cringed as he experienced Legilimency himself when Snape looked directly into his eyes._ _

__Harry flinched as he felt someone tug at the memories currently running through his mind, which were about how much he hated his birth name and the Dursleys’ use of it._ _

__The moment was brief but horrible. It ended once Voldemort stood in front of Harry, blocking him from Snape’s sight. Harry sagged in relief, hiding his face against Tom’s back. He was afraid he would cry and it would be seen._ _

__“Don’t call me that again. It’s not my name.” Harry said as a warning to Snape without seeing the man. He could feel his rage return and he was barely keeping calm as he was gripping Tom’s robes tightly._ _

__“Of course Heather is your name.” Snape said. “How could you discard the name Lily gave you when it’s one of the few things left of her?”_ _

__Harry still couldn’t see Snape and thought he was imagining the pain in the teacher’s voice. It also sounded like Harry had personally offended him._ _

__“It’s not my name.” Harry repeated._ _

__All of his anger was back and worse than before. He did not like what the Potions Master was accusing him of. Not keeping the name his parents gave him was an genuine insecurity he felt guilt over._ _

__“I hate it!” Harry said. “Why do you care? It’s my name and not yours!” Harry yelled. He was still hiding behind Voldemort._ _

__“How could a mere name be only what’s left? Harry is what’s left of them - a whole person.” Tom said, slipping James back into the conversation by saying “them” instead of her._ _

__Harry raised his chin definitely, emboldened by Tom’s words. He dared to look at Snape, but voided his eyes. “That’s right. I’m Lily Potter and James Potter’s son.” Harry said._ _

__“You really are his child.” Snape said, acknowledging it, but the fact that it was said so derisively in addition to Snape saying the neutral term “child” again when Harry had said “son,” pushed Harry to his limit._ _

_§“Ssserpent of Ssslytherin, lisssten to me!”§_ Harry hissed. He could think of nothing but how he wanted Snape to be silent. 

__Voldemort’s posture changed to one of rapt attention, one that was ready to listen and strike._ _

__Snape had not moved aside._ _

__“Harry, please remember what was discussed.” Quirrel warned._ _

__Harry’s haze of anger was broken by hearing his name said by Quirrel and Harry returned to himself. He had almost forgotten that Quirrel was there but the man had suddenly spoken up, and was standing between Snape and Tom._ _

__Quirrel gestured for Snape to move aside and the Potions teacher wordlessly and slowly did._ _

__Harry wanted to leave already but he was faced with one more obstacle, Gilderoy Lockhart, who was giving him a charming but obviously fake smile._ _

__“It’s fine, Gilderoy.” Quirrel said, and Lockhart stepped out of the way._ _

__Harry left the office, knowing that Voldemort would leave with him._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to foreshadow a ton of stuff in this chapter and I’m not sure if I got all of it tbh, so I might come back and edit later, but the plot of this fic basically revolves around its title and the many things it could refer to.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry left the Headmaster’s Office and looked in the direction that would lead to the Gryffindor dorms atop a tower. He looked behind himself at Tom but saw that the basilisk was following Snape in the opposite direction, to the Slytherin dorms which were at the dungeons. 

The night sky could be seen through the windows. It was late and Harry could already feel the effects of losing the sleep he needed. Thankfully tomorrow was a weekend and there would be no classes, though there would be an early Quidditch practice. 

Harry knew he would usually be in trouble for being out in the halls at such a late time but like Tom, he also had a teacher that was to escort him and supervise his path. 

Professor Quirrel didn’t say anything though he looked like he wanted to, but he walked by Harry’s side. It took Harry a bit to recognize the delay in Quirrel’s steps was likely because the Ravenclaw didn’t know where the Gryffindor dorms were. 

Harry turned to Quirrel once he arrived at the portrait that lead to the Gryffindor dorms. 

“Can you help me to the library once I see my friends?” Harry asked. Though he should be sleeping, there was research Harry wanted to do. What exactly was a basilisk? He hoped it would not trouble Quirrel to much to help him.

Quirrel blinked in surprise. “I can.” He said after a beat. 

“Thank you.” Harry said, before turning to the portrait. “Petrichor.” 

Upon hearing the password, the portrait opened, allowing Harry to step inside. 

To Harry’s disappointment, there he was informed that neither Ron nor Hermione were at the tower despite the hour. 

He left the place through the portrait he had entered it, facing Quirrel, who looked surprised to see Harry again so quickly. 

Quietly they walked to the library, this time, Quirrel was very confident in locating their end destination. 

Once they were there, Madam Pince initially frowned, but it softened upon seeing Harry had a chaperone. She commented that there were lots of young Gryffindors out late. They should be in bed but were at the library. Harry relaxed upon hearing Pince say that the Gryffindor girl’s Prefect was supervising Hermione, Ron and Ginny, the Gryffindors who were at at the library. 

Harry found Hermione and Ron in a shelf aisle. Ron was holding the many books Hermione wanted to check out, and complaining under his breath about how it was enough but she wanted more. The Prefect would be holding them but currently she was somewhere else, assisting Ginny. 

Harry was at once relived to hear that someone was watching Ginny and glad it he could just conveniently speak to Ron and Hermione alone. 

Harry had apologies in mind but his words would not have been heard over Ron’s words of relief when he plopped the books onto a nearby clear shelf space and hugged Harry. 

In the background Harry could hear Madam Pince’s warning cough. 

Hermione embraced Harry too but she was more cautious about her volume level. 

Seconds onto the hug, Ron showed signs of becoming self-conscious of how his body was different from Harry’s and he broke the hug, stepping back. Shortly, Hermione followed his example. 

She said she was relieved to see that Harry was safe with her own eyes, though Professor McGonagall had informed them that Harry was no longer missing but found and would be returning to the dorm eventually. 

Harry did not know where to begin explaining what had happened and doubted he was allowed but Harry did not want to keep such a large secret from his friends. He explained he had attained something dangerous for which he was now responsible. Ron thought it was wicked cool while Hermione was wary of the mention of danger. Harry could not help but touch his scar, which had been created by Voldemort poisoning him and the curing that poison. He did not have to do the latter. 

His friends noticed the new markings on his head. Ron was shocked and Hermione gasped loud enough to summon the librarian. Harry excused himself, citing research he had to do before being kicked out of the library and Ron nodded by covering view of Harry’s escape. 

Harry hid his scar again and flitted away, hearing Ron lie about how the loud sounds had come from him, presumably so Hermione would not be banned from being able to borrow the books. 

Harry went to the section labeled about magical creatures and grabbed a few books, one of which was called _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them._ He placed two in his robes and carried the rest.

Harry seated himself down and took out all the books, failing to notice that one of the items he had taken out was the diary Tom had given him. 

He picked up _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ and looked in the glossary. He found the page “Basilisk” was on and flipped to it. He began to read.

> Basilisk (also known as the King of Serpents)
> 
> M.O.M. Classification: XXXXX

What did that mean? Harry wondered. He flipped to another page.

>   
>  Ministry of Magic (M.O.M.) Classification 
> 
> XXXXX Known wizard killer / impossible to train or domesticate  
>  XXXX Dangerous / requires specialist knowledge / skilled wizard may handle  
>  XXX Competent wizard should cope  
>  XX Harmless / may be domesticated  
>  X Boring 

Harry returned to the basilisk page with the information in his mind. Known wizard killer. Impossible to train or domesticate. But Voldemort had said he was tamed. 

Harry read the entire entry. 

> The first recorded Basilisk was bred by Herpo the Foul, a Greek Dark wizard and Parselmouth, who discovered after much experimentation that a chicken egg hatched beneath a toad would produce a gigantic serpent possessed of extraordinarily dangerous powers.
> 
> The Basilisk is a brilliant green serpent that may reach up to fifty feet in length. The male has a scarlet plume upon its head. It has exceptionally venomous fangs but its most dangerous means of attack is the gaze of its large yellow eyes. Anyone looking directly into these will suffer instant death. 
> 
> If the food source is sufficient (the Basilisk will eat all mammals and birds and most reptiles), the serpent may attain a very great age. Herpo the Foul’s Basilisk is believed to have lived for close on nine hundred years.

Harry stopped reading as his mind rewound to a previous sentence, not the one that spoke of the instant death caused by a Basilisk’s gaze, though he realized that was probably what Voldemort had wanted him to say regarding what basilisks were known for and why Quirrel and Snape were alarmed about Harry’s control of Voldemort. Instead the sentence he focused on was the one said “the male has a scarlet plume upon his head”. 

He was paralyzed by the revelation his mind had already made and that he was only beginning to be able to put into words. He had seen what Voldemort had looked like as a Basilisk. Harry had been close enough to be poisoned, to have seen that the Basilisk’s head had been green. There had been no red crown. He thought about the words he had said that had been Fawkes’. The phoenix knew. 

Voldemort had presented himself as Tom Riddle, a male student.Voldemort had given a male name and had accepted male pronouns. 

Harry made up his mind. He had to find Voldemort and find out if Voldemort was like him. 

Harry had been so distracted he hadn’t noticed the other two occupants of the table he had settled on and mixed his books into the pile of. One was the Gryffindor Prefect who was sleeping with her head face down on the table while the other girl, who’s face had been hidden behind a large book, was Ginny Weasley. 

“Harry, hello.” Ginny said, causing him to finally notice her once she had said his name. 

“Hi Ginny,” Harry replied, his eyes darting to book she was reading. _Advanced Transfiguration_. 

She dropped the book suddenly, as if to obscure the title Harry had read, though it was too late. Her cheeks were faintly pink. 

Normally, Harry would normally want to talk to her but at the moment he wanted to leave and find Voldemort immediately. 

Ginny was wearing a dress that Harry’s godfather had once been forced to wear as a child. Many of Ginny’s clothes had been Sirius’ because Harry had been the one to hand them to Ginny. Harry knew it had been tough for Ginny to acquire feminine outfits. She was a transgender girl, the only girl and the youngest in a family where she had six older brothers. Harry knew she was trans because Ron had mentioned her soon after he met Harry. Ron could see Harry did not pass for a boy but presented a boy’s name and pronouns. 

Harry had been uncomfortable that Ron had told him because he was not sure that Ginny had given him permission to out her to people that were strangers she did not know. He had told Ron as much and a sheepish Ron had realized his mistake. He had not thought it a big deal because wizarding folks generally knew each other and the community was a small one so people knew Ginny was born a boy but he realized Harry would not have known because he had been raised in the muggle world. It would not fix what had already happened but Harry had told Ron that he could tell Ginny that Harry was a trans boy.

Harry had met Ginny for the first time the summer before school started. Harry had ran into Ron while shopping for school supplies and he had told Harry about the effort and sacrifices he and the other older Weasley children had made so that money could be used for Ginny instead. The thin family budget had to be pushed to its limit in order to find an amount that could be used to get her two or three full outfits. Old dated textbooks were pasted together rather than purchasing a newer edition and already patched robes were patched again. 

Ron only wanted to vent to someone but Ginny had overheard everything including the part where Ron had complained about Ginny getting clothing that would be especially brought for her while all the younger Weasleys, such as himself, had to made do with hand-me-downs. It was the norm, with each younger brother getting clothing from an older brother who had outgrown it.

Harry did not have siblings himself and he could only imagine the emotions Ron felt, about the unfairness of it and Ginny being favored. But Harry also said to Ron that Ginny could not wear Ron’s old clothing and comfortably pass. He had also asked Ron to image what if he were an only boy in a family where all his older siblings were sisters and how he would feel if expected to wear his older sister’s hand-me-down dresses as the only clothes he had. 

Ron had said he would dislike it, and that he understood better after what Harry told him. 

Ginny had made her presence known then and said she would tell her and Ron’s parents to redirect the funds that had been set aside to acquire clothing for her to be put back toward clothing and school supplies for her older brothers instead. 

Ron had reacted with shock and didn’t want her to do that but Ginny had gone ahead. Harry had followed her to Molly and Arthur. They, like Ron, were flustered by her request but they gave in upon her insistence and Harry saying that they could do so because he could get Ginny some dresses instead of them going out of their way to purchase some.

It had taken much convincing of the Weasley parents that they could simply accept clothing from Harry and they had not agreed until Harry called Sirius over. They were no match for Sirius’ insistence that they would be doing him a favor by taking the old clothes he had to wear as a child. Sirius made it clear he was eager to get rid of them somehow and there was no better way that to give it to someone who could use it. It was all purchased long ago so it wasn’t like a financial burden where he was giving away new clothes, but old ones that were cluttering up the house. Think of them like hand-me-downs. Think of it as getting something from family, Arthur was Sirius’s second cousin once removed. Sirius had said all this and more. 

He would have thrown out the dresses a long time ago but he held onto them because of the news that Lily and James were expecting a baby girl. But now Sirius knew the dresses are not something Harry would wear, so no one used them. It would even be helping Harry and doing him a favor if the stuff were moved out of Grimmauld Place so there would be more space for him. 

Sirius Black had been a force to be reckoned with and in the end a bewildered Arthur and Molly Wealsey had to give in to Sirius offering a trunk full of clothes the value of which had to be a hundred Galleons at the least. 

Harry had been the one to actually pass the trunk to Ginny at the start of the school year and he had stressed that the clothing had come from his godfather and not him because he never had ownership of the dresses, but Ginny seemed to view Harry as her benefactor. 

She was directing all of her attention at him now, her eyes bright and focused on him. 

Ginny covered her mouth. “What happened to your forehead?” She whispered, her eyes filled with worry. 

Harry blinked, realizing that she had noticed his scar because he had pushed his hair aside in a distracted motion when he remembered that the basilisk had no red crown on its forehead. Thus, it had became visible to her. 

“An accident,” Harry said vaguely. “It doesn’t hurt or anything. I’m just even more weird looking now.”

“You aren’t weird looking.” Ginny said. “You look cool.”

Harry could not see himself but he could see Ginny. Classes were long over and she was not in uniform but in a green dress with silver accents. The shade of green empathized her bright red hair, which fell to her waist. Harry felt like apologizing for the dresses now that it was evident many of the designs referenced Slytherin. Of course there was no other house Sirius’ parents had expected those of Black family to place into. 

Looking now he could see that the stand up collar of Ginny’s emerald dress was ringed by an embroidered silver snake. 

_§“Thankssss,”_ § Harry said, _§“You look cute in your dressss.”§_

__Harry read the confusion and fear on Ginny’s face and found himself bewildered. He covered his mouth in shock as he realized that seeing the silver serpent made his speech come out in parseltongue. He had _hissed_ at her. _ _

__“I just said you looked cute. Er, please forget what happened just now.” Harry said nervously._ _

__“You’re a Parselmouth?” Ginny said. Her eyes were wide. “But how can that be? You’re a good person.”_ _

__Harry blinked, finding himself hurt by the implication that being a Parselmouth was equated with being a not good person. “I don’t think all Parselmouths are necessarily bad.” Harry said, only defensive now that he was a Parseltongue speaker himself._ _

__“That’s right…” Ginny said softly, “if you are one…” A hand was held to her chin thoughtfully, her expression that of someone who’s views were being upended._ _

__Harry looked over at the Prefect, who thankfully still appeared fast asleep. Harry placed his hand over Ginny’s pale hand, the free one that was resting flat over her book. “Can you please promise to keep this a secret, just between the two of us?” He asked hopefully._ _

__“O-okay.” Ginny said, though she pulled out her hand and lowered both to her sides, hiding them under the table._ _

__“Thank you,” Harry said, sure that he could trust her but also upset she probably disliked contact with him because of the revelation he could speak the language of snakes._ _

__He said an awkward goodnight before hurrying to leave the library. He had to go to the Slytherin dorms and find Tom._ _


	8. Chapter 8

Harry allowed Quirrel to lead him back to the Gryffindor dorms, but once the professor was gone, Harry sneaked out under his Invisibility Cloak. 

Tom would be settled into the sixth years’ Slytherin dorm, but Harry did not know where the Slytherin dorms were except somewhere in the dungeons. However, he was aware of people he could follow to find out. 

While it was certainly a foolish idea, Harry stood outside of Snape’s office. 

He did not have to wonder where the Potions Professor was because Harry could hear his voice, which was arguing with Draco Malfoy’s. 

Draco wanted to play Qudditch at school and he wanted Snape to enable him, though Draco’s parents didn’t allow him to. Harry had started last year after the incident where Draco stole Neville’s Remembrall, and he had thought it was only a matter of time before Draco would play too. But now it was apparent that parental permission was an obstacle for him. 

“I’ll be careful and wear gloves.” Draco said, “They won’t notice any callouses, and if I do get them you can just apply a potion, right?”

“No,” Snape said, “It’s not only your hands, what if you get hit? Potions can’t cure everything and there’s only so much I can expend. They cost time and resources to create.”

“I’ll reimburse - ”

“It’s not about that, Draco,” Snape said, “I can’t keep such secrets from your parents.”

“You’re already keeping a secret from my parents!” Draco yelled. “You know I’m a boy and they don’t have a clue! What is one more thing?” 

“This conversation isn’t conductive.” Snape said. “I won’t change my mind. Keep out of tomorrow’s tryouts.” 

Harry stepped out of the way, narrowly being smack into by Draco, who had marched out of the office in a fit of anger. 

Harry followed Draco, who was mumbling complaints under his breath. 

Since Draco was distracted, it was easier for Harry to successfully shadow him to the Slytherin portrait. 

“Sursurus,” Draco said, and Harry sneaked in after Draco had said the password. 

Inside, Crabbe and Goyle were eating sweets and they looked up when they noticed Draco’s arrival. 

Harry want to walk past them but they were too large and blocked the way. 

He had no choice but to listen as Draco vented to Crabbe and Goyle about his situation. 

“It wasn’t a phase?” Crabbe said. “You’re a boy this year too, Decima?”

Draco threw a cupcake at Crabbe. His aim was accurate and the object hit the fellow Slytherin head on. “No, it wasn’t a _phase_.” Draco snapped with such intensity Harry was surprised Crabbe didn’t combust from the sheer malevolence that was being directed at him. “And my name is Draco.” 

Crabbe scratched his head after he had retrieved the cupcake that and hit him and put it in his mouth. With a muffled voice, he spoke and elaborated on his confusion. Last year at Hogwarts, Draco had went through the school year as a male student but when he had returned home for the summer, where Crabbe and Goyle had sometimes seen him, he seemed to have gone back to being a girl. His parents had referred to him as Decima. 

“Look, I’ve already explained it twice now.” He said, some anger had drained from his voice and it was softer but still irritated. “My parents do not and cannot know that I am a boy…yet. That’s why until then, I am only this way at school and outside of it I’m still called that name and having to live as a girl.” 

Draco spoke about the Keeper’s Enchantment. It was an enchantment tied to Hogwart’s walls, which made it so that a secret of Hogwarts stayed in Hogwarts. 

Harry thought of the implications. It was probably because of that spell it had taken the Durmstrang teachers being inside Hogwarts to find out about the Chamber of Secrets and the basilisk. 

Draco had outed and presented himself as Draco while attending school at Hogwarts but he couldn’t be out to his parents. Due to the castle’s spell, the other students who attended knew Draco was trans, but cannot speak of Draco being trans to people outside the school. It was why his secret was kept and he could have Hogwarts as place to be trans, though he couldn’t be out living that life while at home. 

“Vincent’s right though. It is confusing.” Crabbe said, shuffling his feet. 

Harry was about to take the opening and escape into the dorms but he heard his name spoken by Draco.

“…unlike Harry Potter.”

Harry blinked. He caught that Draco had said his name but he had failed to catch the context. He listened attentively now, wondering why Draco had said his name. 

“Potter can pass sometimes.”

“Pass?” Goyle asked. 

“For a boy.” Draco said. “Like if someone looked and you and immediately thought, this person is male.” 

“Hmm. He does look like a boy, from a distance.” Crabbe said. 

“No.” Draco said, covering his face with his hands. 

“But I thought he does?” Goyle said.

“No, as in this is the part where you two are suppose to cheer me up.” Draco complained. “And say stuff like Potter actually looks like a girl all the time.”

“He only looks like a boy from far away.” Crabbe said. “Up close he just looks like a girl.”

“But at least some of the time he passes.” Draco said. “I never pass.”

Objectively, Harry knew that was true. There were many factors affecting whether one was read as male or female, such as posture, clothing, and haircut. Whether up close or from far away, overall Draco’s form was one people read as female. 

Goyle moved again and unfortunately for Harry the path he wanted to take was blocked and Draco had plenty more to vent about. 

Now, Draco was complaining about about his birthname, Decima.

Decima meant tenth. Decima is also the Roman goddess of childbirth and the second of the Three Fates - Measurer, she who determined the length of the thread of life, and decided destiny. 

Draco’s parents wanted to have a large family, in order to bring more purebloods in the world. They had the resources to support a large family and they weren’t blood traitors.

It was an obvious barb against the Weasleys and Harry nearly threw a cupcake at Draco, but at once Draco also expressed a vulnerability. He was jealous of Ginny, who could be out to her large family, the school, and the entire wizarding world. 

Draco continued and spoke of how his birth had been incredibly tough for his mother. It was due to Snape’s tireless work and application of potions that Narcissa Malfoy and Draco Malfoy both survived the process. Narcissa and Lucius were close to Snape because of that and they had made Snape Draco’s godfather. Any thought to having more children was scrapped because Narcissa’s life would seriously be threatened for it took her months to recover from the birth. 

Draco was a firstborn, and an only child, but called the tenth. Parents named their children as an expression of what their hopes and dreams are for the child. What Draco was named had been the amount of children they had hoped to reach but Draco would be the only child they could have.

Harry had not known any of this about his rival, that Draco’s godfather was Snape, which explained the favoritism that seemed deeper than the Hogwarts house they shared. He hadn’t known about Draco’s birthname and how much children the Malfoy’s had wanted either. Harry tried to imagine a large family of blond children, and was repulsed. One Draco was awful but he could not imagine ten. Privately, he was glad the large family was the Weasleys. 

“At least my birthname isn’t something boring and muggle-sounding, like Ronald or Harry,” Draco sneered. 

If it wouldn’t put him in danger, Harry would have commented that Gregory and Vincent were rather “muggle-sounding” names too. 

“Oh, Professor Snape saved your life and Mrs. Malfoy’s life. That’s why he’s allowed to be around Mr. Malfoy as much as he is even though he’s a half-blood.” Crabbe commented, “Truthfully, my father thinks yours is a little batty for mingling with a half-blood, but I see now.” 

Harry wondered if Draco would defend Snape since the man had saved his life and that of his mother’s, even if Draco was upset with Snape at the moment. 

“Professor Snape is very competent in spite of his _handicap_ ,” Draco said, “For others like mudbloods, there’s no hope though.” 

Harry nearly yelled “what is wrong with you?” at Draco. For the slur and the fact that though Draco was close to Snape as godson and godfather, the way Draco was speaking about Snape was reminiscent of his attitude toward Harry first year, which had resulted in Harry rejecting his offer of friendship. 

It seemed like Draco was eager to befriend another trans boy but how he treated Harry last year was with some kind of weird pity, like Harry had an unfortunate disease. Draco had acted like he was normal and superior, and he had to guide Harry to the right path, which Harry had strayed from due to not being a pureblood. 

It had reminded Harry of how some people treated his being trans, like he had a tragic illness that he deserved pity for. But now Harry saw with Draco, it wasn’t about that, but actually about Harry being a half-blood and Draco was speaking about Snape in a similar way.

It was strange having that commonality with Snape, and not only that, presumably Draco spoke like this about Snape to his face, and Draco’s parents were likely the same and even worse about it, and Snape was still somehow close to the pureblood Malfoy family. 

Harry was having a very bizarre day and feeling bad for Snape was factoring into it. 

“I thought you grew taller over the summer,” Vincent said, addressing Draco. “But you look shorter tonight.”

Draco frowned and looked down at his shoes self-consciously, then he looked up and gestured at Goyle with a shooing motion. “Move further from me.”

“Why?” Goyle asked, but he was already moving aside. 

Harry saw an opening. He sneaked past. 

“You’re already large at your age and I feel small in comparison.” These was the last words Harry heard from Draco before he moved on. 

—

It took Harry longer than he liked to locate the sixth year dorms. 

Each four poster bed had heavy green silk curtains that obscured the interior of each, all of them looked exactly alike, except for one bed which stood out. 

It looked relatively unused and Harry had a feeling it was the one Voldemort likely had been assigned. 

Harry could hear the sound of the lake that the dungeon was partially under. It felt cool in the dungeons and Harry thought that Voldemort would probably like it here because it was similar to the Chamber of Secrets. 

Harry opened the curtain but saw that no one was inside. Since he’s already made it that far and had to know the answer, still under the Invisibility Cloak, Harry decided to crawl onto the bed and wait for Voldemort to return.

Voldemort was stranger than Sirius, but like with his godfather, Harry couldn’t help but feel closer because Voldemort was, presumably, also a trans male. Though Draco was a trans boy like Harry, the pureblood had irked Harry because his vile attitude toward people who weren’t purebloods. 

While Harry waited, he touched the miniature pensive-watch that he wore on his wrist, and allowed it to pull him into the singular memory it could hold. Harry treasured it, for it held a memory of his parents. 

The memory he was immersed into was of the funeral for Cassiopeia Ursa Black, which was Sirius’ birthname. It had been recorded by Peter Pettigrew, who had been killed in fight that had resulted in the death of Harry’s parents. Because it was of his friends, for all those things the watch was important to Sirius, and he had given it to Harry for his birthday. 

The funeral was being lead by James, who stood front and center, by the open casket Sirius was resting in. 

Harry could see Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew as the audience. 

It was a very exclusive and intimate gathering. Harry listened to the eulogy his father was giving, knowing the speech would be interrupted by the arrival of his mother. Sirius’ brother and Snape would crash the occasion too but the memory always cut off before Harry could hear or see what they did. 

“Good afternoon. My name is James Potter and we are gathered here today to mourn the passing of Cassiopeia Ursa Black.” James said, whose eyes were already shiny. 

Harry knew the person in the casket wasn’t really dead but every time he viewed the memory he was struck by the effort his father had put in with his whole heart and soul to carry on as if someone had really died. Even though Harry could also comprehend in a way it was true, and that farewells to Cassiopeia had to be said so Sirius could live. 

“Cassiopeia Ursa Black was my dear friend, my partner-in-crime, and like a younger sister to me.” James continued. “A lioness from a den of snakes, a beauty who rivals the queen she is named after - ” 

Harry zoned out, put off by the female gendered terms that were being applied though he knew Sirius had approved every part of the speech since he had written it together with James, and it was about Cassiopeia and not Sirius since Cassiopeia was the one being symbolically laid to rest.

James was detailing a past incident, which was an infamous prank they had masterminded, when Harry heard the loud and accusatory shout. 

“James Potter!” Lily yelled, running into the scene with a face the color of her hair, red from anger. 

“…legendary work will be remembered and immortalized for ages.” James said, “It’s said the good die young - ”

He stopped when Lily snatched the parchment paper that held his notes. Neither Remus or Peter had tried to stop her. Remus was covering his face with the funeral invitation in his hand while Peter was trying to make himself look smaller by lowering his head into his robes. Harry’s heart lurched upon hearing his father’s statement, thinking about how it would later prove true for him and Lily. 

“Where is Cass?” Lily asked urgently. 

“She’s passed on. We’re holding her funeral right now.” James said.

Lily was momentarily stunned by the sight of the wet tears trailing down James’ brown cheeks. 

“What? I just saw her two hours ago.” Lily with panic in her voice. She moved over the the casket and gasped when she saw the white faced body lying inside it. 

Shortly, James used his Invisibility Cloak to make the body resting in the coffin disappear. 

Harry knew Cassiopeia had to go but it still alarmed him to see the body vanish before his eyes, no matter how often he viewed the memory. 

Lily yelled and seized James by the shoulders. 

“This is not exactly how it goes in my dreams - ” James said, requiring the approach of Remus and Peter to save him from Lily’s wrath. 

The Invisibility Cloak was thrown off and Sirius reappeared dressed in men’s clothing. His posture was proud and there was confidence and happiness in his eyes. He was certainly wearing a binder which transfigured the chest it was worn on, before he had been busty. Sirius had told Harry he had changed under the cloak. 

Sirius explained to Lily. He had wanted to symbolically transition by letting his “female self” be dead so it could be put to rest and he can exist as a man. Sirius had wanted it, so James had done all he could with the other Marauders to arrange it. 

Lily was understanding to the point Sirius asked if she had already handled someone else coming out as transgender to her before. 

She did not answer and the heaviness of the topics could only be disrupted by jokes. 

James was speaking of how Sirius would want surgery for the top part of his body because he had the generous bosom those of the female sex in the Black family bloodline were known for. It’s loss would be tragic but James had already done the mourning. 

Sirius mentioned once he gets the surgery to get rid of the tissue, he would donate it to Lily, who had the opposite problem of having a small chest. 

Harry seriously hoped he would end up flat-chested when he made it through puberty. The thought of the process filled him with dread and he froze, pulling out of the the memory once he realized Tom was back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character development happens later, right now lots of people are a Mess.


	9. Chapter 9

Harry was still hiding under the Invisibility Cloak though Tom was now on the bed.

Tom had dropped his pajamas onto the bed, almost throwing them onto the spot Harry was hiding. He was taking off his school uniform, presumably in order to change into his pajamas. 

Tom had shrugged off his robe and he was working on removing his grey blazer. 

Harry mentally complained about the extra layers Tom’s dated Hogwarts uniform had. The male uniform didn’t require blazers anymore. He had heard Regulus unfavorably comment about the change while examining Harry’s Gryffindor robes. 

Harry also thought that if anyone did such a thing to him as he was doing now to Tom, he would have made sure they’d get hurt. He would even unleash Voldemort on them. 

However, Harry was already set on his plan. He justified it with the thought that Voldemort was actually a basilisk, so it was not like he was really watching a person change…although Tom really did look like one. 

Tom didn’t strip like a normal person though. It was really strange. He stripped like he had an audience, like he knew he was being watched. Slow and making a show of it. 

Harry pulled aside his Invisibility Cloak when Tom was on the middle button of his final shirt and Harry could see his bare, flat chest. 

_§“How did you know I wasss there?”§_ Harry asked in a soft hiss like out of the two of them Tom was the one who had done something wrong that needed explanation. It was easier for him to speak Parseltongue now, even though he was not looking at a snake, because the image of Voldemort’s crownless basilisk form was currently stuck on his mind. 

_§“Thesse eyesss of mine can ssee invisssible thingsss.”§_ Voldemort said in just as soft a hiss if not softer. 

_§“Can every Basssilisssk see invisssible thingsss? That’sss not common iss it?”§_ Harry asked. The book he read had not mentioned anything about Basilisk eyes being able to do that. It had only mentioned killing. 

“No. It’s not common.” Tom said. “But you are trying to change the subject. I didn’t know you had such an unusual hobby, Master. Perhaps you should be the one called Tom since you are making me Lady Godiva.” To Harry’s alarm, Tom had said this at a normal volume and in English. 

“It’s not a hobby - why are you being loud - don’t - ” Harry said. He didn’t even know who Lady Godiva was. Did Tom know the reason why Harry was here? Why was he comparing himself to a lady?

Tom slapped a poster of the four-poster bed. “There’s silencing charms in place. Nothing said in here can be heard from the outside. You can scream bloody murder and no one would look in to check.” Tom said. 

“Oh.” Harry said, managing to sound reassured despite Tom’s comment on murder.

“If you wanted to be here, the you should have been sorted into Slytherin in the first place.” Tom said. “And if you want me to strip, I rather you not be sneaky about it. Command me to and I will.” Tom said, his pale thin fingers were back on the button of his shirt. 

Harry’s lips parted but no sound came out. He couldn’t bring himself to say it to Tom’s stupid face. It was hard to look into his eyes and order him to do something that suddenly seemed quite unreasonable. 

“You can’t order me to but you’re perfectly capable of sneakily spying on me?” Tom asked. 

“You knew I was there.” Harry said. 

“But you didn’t know that I knew you were there.” Tom said. “Not at first. But when?”

Harry remained silent. The answer was around the time Tom had taken off his blazer. 

“I’ll take off my clothes, all you have to do is tell me to. I’d derobe in the Great Hall if you ordered me to, but you have to say it.” 

“Why would I say that - you weird pervert!” Harry said, crossing his arms. 

“I’m the pervert?” Tom said incredulously. “I’m not the one who sits under an invisibility cloak in people’s beds, waiting for them to arrive and strip out of their clothes.” 

“I am not! You didn’t tell me you were like me!” Harry said. 

Tom crossed his arms too and tilted his head curiously. “What do you mean by that?” 

It was brief but Harry saw Tom’s eyes flash red before returning to its usual look, that of fathomless, dark pools. 

“I saw your basilisk form clearly. Your didn’t have a red crown on your head.” Harry said. “Which means you were born a lady basilisk, right?”

Tom was no longer smiling. 

“You’re like me.” Harry repeated, his gaze intense as he looked at Tom.

“Yes, I suppose you could say we’re similar like that, but unlike you, I can shape-shift into whatever I want.” Voldemort said, acknowledging Harry’s statement. 

Harry bowed until his forehead was touching the bed. _§“Pleassse teach me how to ssshapessshift.”_ §He said. 

“No.” Voldemort said. 

Harry’s head shot up and he frowned at Voldemort. “Why not?”

“I can’t. You’re a human.” Voldemort said, “I’d be like teaching a merman how to fly through the air. I can teach you how to wield Gryffindor’s Sword the way he did himself. I can teach you Sanskrit, a heritage language of yours. I can teach you how to read the minds of others, and shield your own from intrusions. But I cannot teach you shapeshifting.”

“I don’t want to learn those things, just shapeshifting.” Harry said though Sirius had informed him that a wizard or witch couldn’t learn to be a shapeshifter but they can be born one. Such people were called Metamorphmagus and such births were rare. Harry had hoped Voldemort was an exception and had such an ability that was teachable. 

“Then leave.” Tom said. 

“You don’t have the right to order your Master away.” Harry said. “You listen to me but I don’t have to listen to you.” 

“You’re right.” Tom sighed. “The Master can step into the horse’s stable and the Master can visit the dog house - but should he be there? This is my place to sleep. You have your own.” 

This was a private conversation but Harry found himself shaken by the casual way Voldemort degraded himself to Harry. He thought Voldemort had pride since the creature was a Basilisk, a King of Serpents. 

“Put your cloak back on and return to your own bed.” Tom said. “There would be trouble if someone did look in right now found you here and assumed things without context at this time of the night.”

“That would be a problem.” Harry agreed. “Good luck explaining yourself.” Harry added as he reached to pull aside a curtain without having put his Invisibility Cloak back on. 

His hand never reach the curtain as he found himself pulled back by a stronger force. 

_§“Troublesssome brat.”§_

_Tom hissed once he had Harry immobilized. “Put your cloak back on and leave quietly.”_

_§“I’m not leaving until you teach me how to ssshape-ssshift.”§_ Harry said, glaring at Tom, who loomed over him. 

_§“Asss I have already sssaid. It’ss impossssible for you to learn.”§_ Tom said.

Harry fretfully squeezed his hands into fists, upset that he couldn’t learn to change his body at will. He looked enviously at Tom’s flat chest and noticed something. 

“Hey.” Harry said, suddenly grabbing Tom’s forearm. 

Tom’s eyes narrowed when Harry’s met his. The boy’s smile was too mischievous. 

“Why don’t you have body hair, Tom?” Harry asked, poking his fingers along Tom’s arm, which was indeed devoid of any hair at all. There was not even small fine hairs. 

“It’s difficult for me to manifest fur because I am used to having scales.” Voldemort explained. “The first time I attempted to craft a human form I failed to create hair at all.”

Harry thought about the first humanoid form he had seen Voldemort as. That form didn’t have hair or a nose. 

“And now this is the best you can do. You have hair on your head and eyebrows but not elsewhere.” Harry said. Harry’s hand was now on Tom’s bare chest, over his heart. “You’re like a porcelain doll.” Harry said wonderingly. He had been jealous of Tom’s shapeshifting at first but now that he was aware of Voldemort’s limitations and areas of struggle, the poisonous feelings had given way to a kind of pity. _Poor Voldemort._

Tom self-consciously re-buttoned his shirt after Harry’s curious fingers had disappeared. “Harry Ja - ” Tom began, his voice stern.

“I am but you’re not.” Harry interrupted smugly. 

Voldemort had stopped in the middle of his words, his expression one of sheer disbelief at the terrible pun that had been inflicted on him. 

Harry thought he was at least lucky himself to have hair on his arms, even if it wasn’t his ideal amount like… “My godfather, Sirius, has hairy arms.” Harry said. “The back of his hands are hairy too and he can grow a beard but he lets me shave him sometimes and he also has a hairy chest and he was born a girl too.” Harry said. 

“Hmph.” Voldemort, “why did you go all the way here instead of staying in your dorm and writing to ask me through the diary?” Tom asked. “Do you prefer seeing things with your own eyes?” He teased. 

“The diary?” Harry asked, avoiding Tom’s eyes. He patted his pockets and realized that he no longer had the item in the pocket he recalled leaving it in. “…I think I lost it.” Harry awkwardly said after a minute of searching. 

“You lost the diary I gave you.” Tom said. 

Harry nodded.

Tom pulled out a diary from his discarded robes. 

“Oh, there is it.” Harry said. “Did you steal it from me when I wasn’t looking?” After all, Tom had stolen his wand before. Twice. 

“This is my _own_ diary.” Tom said. “This and the one I gave you were a set. Didn’t I tell you to write in yours if you needed to communicate with me?” 

“Yeah, you did.” Harry recalled. “I didn’t think you were keeping one too…” 

“How did you think it would work? That if you wrote into the diary the words would directly enter my brain?” Tom scowled. “If you wrote in yours, the writing would have appeared on my diary, and what I write into mine will appear on yours.” 

“Oh.” Harry said. “Um…”

“Why did you lose the diary?” Tom asked. “How?”

Harry remained silent.

“I said I couldn’t teach you how to shapeshift but Occlumency lessons start now.” Tom announced. “Try to imagine a barrier of some sort.”

That was the little warning Harry had before he felt Voldemort trying to slither into his mind. Harry suspected it was only as obvious as it was because Voldemort was making it that way. 

Harry prepared an image of a locked door but Harry was aware of Voldemort’s presence as floodwater, something vast and overwhelming. It was not slamming against the door like a tidal wave but gently creeping in through the crack at the bottom of the door. He had a feeling Voldemort could do much worse. Harry tried to plaster the opening but the water merely seeped through. 

Harry was angry at Voldemort’s invasiveness but he was also afraid he had angered the basilisk by losing the diary. 

For a moment there was a deathly silence. 

“I thought that might have been the issue.” Tom said, hiding his mouth with his hand. He laughed.

Harry’s tension drained as it was replaced with confusion and ire at being laughed at even if it was a rich and pleasant sound, unlike the chilly laugh Voldemort had given earlier in front of the Hogwarts teachers. At this moment, Voldemort was genuinely amused. 

“Keeping diaries is what girls do.” Tom said, decently imitating Harry’s voice though it was higher in pitch. 

Harry blushed. That was indeed the reason why he had subconsciously wanted to lose the diary the moment he was given it. “Well, it’s true and I didn’t - ”

“Didn’t want to keep a diary because it damages your self-image since you’re not in a place where you can write in a diary without feeling like doing something associated with girls would invalidate your boyhood?” Tom asked. 

Harry recoiled at the incisive words. “Yes,” he admitted. 

“Well, you could have told me that before discarding the diary I gave you.” Tom said. “Returning it would have been less insulting.”

“I’m sorry I lost it, Tom.” Harry said. “I’ll get it back…and I’ll keep it.” 

“Oh? Now you want the diary?” Tom asked, though he was touched by the sincerity of Harry’s words. “What happened to refusing to keep a diary because it’s something girls do?”

“I didn’t know you had one too.” Harry said. “And you’re a boy.”

Tom sighed softly. “Do you remember where you might have left it?” Tom asked. “It hasn’t even been a day.”

“I think I may have left it in the library.” Harry said. He reached for his Invisibility Cloak. 

Tom reached for it as well. “May I go look for it in your place?” Tom asked. “Don’t go stumbling around in the dark. My eyes are better. I can go and try to retrieve it.” Tom said. 

Harry blinked in surprise and considered how he had enough of sneaking around under the cloak and didn’t need more of it. “Okay.” Harry said, letting Tom have the cloak. 

Tom threw the Invisibility Cloak over himself and Harry felt the bed shift when Tom left it. Harry looked around, realizing that he was alone again on the four poster bed. 

Harry looked at the trunk that the weight of which Harry had depended on to hide the shift in the bed Harry sitting on it had caused. 

Harry tried opening it and to his surprise, it opened without resistance. 

It turned out to contain clothes and Harry examined and admired the sleek and stylish outfits contained within. So this was what teenage boys wore. 

Harry held out a pair of black silk boxers. When he was older he would get similar outfits and - 

“I thought you said you weren’t a pervert.” Tom said. He had returned to the interior of the four poster bed and was watching Harry with a bemused expression. 

Harry dropped the cloth like it was a piece of fire. 

“It’s gone. I couldn’t find it.” Tom said in a more serious tone. 

“Is there anyway you can locate it?” Harry asked. 

“Not now I’m afraid not, though if someone were to write in it I could get some clues.” Tom said. “I wish you hadn’t lost the first gift I gave you in such a way, but I can simply acquire another set.” Tom said. “It’s just a bit of a loose end, to have half a set out in the castle somewhere.”

“Sorry.” Harry said, apologizing again. He tried to think of how he could make Voldemort happy, for the basilisk didn’t seem very pleased. 

Harry’s eyes wandered to his Invisibility Cloak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The diary is exactly where you think it is.


	10. Chapter 10

_§“Can you teach me how to sssee invisssible thingsss?”§_ Harry asked. 

__“Hmm.” Voldemort said before he placed his palm over one of his eyes. He exhaled; there was a look of great concentration on his face._ _

__Harry watched Tom._ _

__“What are you doing?” Harry asked, because the moment seemed to be stretching on for too long._ _

__“I’m preparing to pluck out my own eye in order to give it to you.” Voldemort said._ _

__“What? Don’t do that!” Harry shouted._ _

__“Too late.” Tom said as he made a movement with his hand and pulled it away from his face._ _

__Harry yelled as Tom placed an object in his hands._ _

__He wanted to drop it but felt it would be offensive to do so. He had shut his own eyes because he did not want to see Tom missing one. His heart thumped in his chest and only slowed a bit once he became more aware of what he sensed._ _

__The object in his hand wasn’t wet, bloody, or evenly spherical. It didn’t feel like an eye._ _

__Harry opened his eyes._ _

__There was a smooth, unevenly circular black stone his hand. There was a hole in the middle of the stone._ _

__Harry looked around. Voldemort had disappeared._ _

__“It’s an adder stone. You can use it to see invisible things,” said Tom’s disembodied voice._ _

__Harry had not received exact instructions but he had a feeling about what it was that he was suppose to do. He held the stone between his index finger and thumb, and raised it to his eye. He looked through it._ _

__He found Tom sitting exactly where he had been before._ _

__Harry saw his Invisibility Cloak’s magic as lines of shimmering thread. Tom was underneath it. He was smiling as he made direct eye contact with Harry. Both of Tom’s dark eyes were still in his head and they were sparkling with amusement._ _

__Harry blinked. He was getting drawn into those eyes. There was something else there. All of Tom looked strange. Harry had a feeling he would not be seeing it if it were not for the stone. There was so, so much power, and Harry wondered why he had not felt it until now. It was like a vast river and at that moment, he wanted very badly, to drown himself in it. He wanted to look in and see what was inside and -_ _

__Tom frowned and abruptly broke eye contact. He pulled off the cloak and snatched the stone from a dazed Harry._ _

__“I thought you were letting me keep it.” Harry said, reaching for the stone even as he clutched at his aching head with his other hand._ _

__“What did you see?” Tom said, his tone serious. All traces of humor were gone. “Whatever it was, forget all that you saw. Don’t think or dwell on it.”_ _

__“I saw a lake…a river.” Harry said, lowering his arm._ _

__“And? What was it like?” Tom asked._ _

__Harry wanted to roll his eyes because Voldemort was still interrogating him though he had just told Harry to not dwell on it. “It could only see a body of water.” Harry said truthfully. “There was something in it but I couldn’t quite grasp what it was made of.” It hadn’t been water exactly..._ _

__“I’ll give this stone to you because it has other powers that maybe of use to you, besides allowing one to see invisible things.” Tom said, “But don’t ever use it to look at me again.”_ _

__“Okay.” Harry agreed, reaching for it again. He wanted to say seeing Tom with the stone was Tom’s idea in the first place but that might cause Tom to not give the stone back after all._ _

__Tom dropped the strange black stone into Harry’s hand._ _

__“How can you stand it?” Harry asked once he had tucked the stone away into a secure pocket._ _

__“Stand what?” Tom asked suspiciously._ _

__Harry tried to describe what it felt like looking at the river that was within Voldemort, the river that seemed to be the basilisk himself. There was a mighty river and its only outlet was through flowing out of the tap of a bathroom sink._ _

__Voldemort laughed self-deprecatingly. “What an apt metaphor. That is indeed my status, Master.” He said. “I am only allowed to use a fraction of my power, more would require your command and consent.”_ _

__Harry thought about the nuclear weapon metaphor that Professor Quirrel conveyed to him. He was earning more and more of its appropriateness._ _

__“Do you feel bad for me?” Tom asked. “If you do, you could - ”_ _

__“The teachers all warned me you were dangerous.” Harry said._ _

__“I am.” Tom agreed. “Very dan - ”_ _

__Harry heard a loud, disruptive crack, then there was the sound of metal hitting flesh._ _

__Tom Riddle toppled over._ _

__He hit the bed face down and was still._ _

__Harry stared in disbelief at Tom’s knocked-out form before his eyes turned to the assailant._ _

__It was a house-elf. Harry could recognize them because Grimmauld Place had a house-elf named Kreacher, who rarely listened to Harry or Sirius but always listened to Regulus. But whereas Kreacher was aged, grouchy and often squinted, the house-elf standing on the bed appeared younger, fearful and had large green eyes. He was dressed in a pillowcase and wielded a frying pan._ _

__“Harry Potter?”_ _

__“How do you know my name and what’s yours?” Harry said, somewhat nervous about the small servant that had knocked out _his_ servant. _ _

__“Oh goodness. That’s so rude of me! To dare say your name and not give my own!” The house-elf shouted. He was still holding the pan and he began to smack his own head with it, several times._ _

__Harry was very glad for the bed’s silencing charms and he reached out, trying take the pan from the house-elf. “Stop it!” Harry said, but the house-elf was quite strong and Harry failed to pry the pan from his hands._ _

__“It’s Dobby, sir.” He had stopped hitting himself in the meantime as he answered. “I serve the Malfoy family but I am currently here at Hogwarts as the Night Peace Keeper of the Slytherin boys’ dorms.”_ _

__“Night Peace Keeper?” Harry asked._ _

__Dobby explained that generally house-elves that were affiliated with Hogwarts worked for the school but other house-elves that worked for a family could be contracted to serve in the role, which consisted of the responsibility of patrolling a Hogwarts house’ dorms at night to keep students from causing trouble against other students in the middle of the night. The posts had created centuries ago after an incident where a preserved kelpie was left in one student’s bed by another pair of students during the night. There were eight house-elves with this role, with two for each house - one male elf for the boys’ dorms and one female elf for the girls’ dorms. Dobby patrolled the Slytherin boys’ dorms while Kreacher patrolled the Gryffindor boys’ dorms. Kreacher had failed to find Harry in the dorms while doing his duty and in his worry had sought help from the other house-elves, one of which was Dobby._ _

__“I am so pleased I found you, Mr. Potter!” Dobby said. “I’ll tell Kreacher at once and he’ll help get you to the Gryffindor dorms safely.”_ _

__Dobby looked at Tom with a distasteful expression._ _

__Tom’s fingers twitched, which meant he would arise soon but seeing that, Dobby raised his pan again._ _

__“Dobby, don’t!” Harry said, stepping between Tom and Dobby’s frying pan. “He wasn’t bothering me.”_ _

__Dobby looked confused. “He is a sixth year student and you are a second year. There was yelling. And you are Gryffindor.” Dobby added as if that were the main and definitive proof there was no way Harry could have been here in the Slytherin dorms out of his own free will._ _

__“Your little domestic tool didn’t injure me at all.” Tom said to Dobby while rising and stretching his arms lazily. “I just wondered why you were here. You should thank me for your job seeing as how I am the reason why there are Night Peace Keepers.”_ _

__“Really, Tom?” Harry said disapprovingly._ _

__“He deserved that preserved kelpie and more.” Tom said._ _

__“Don’t cause trouble for Dobby.” Harry said._ _

__“Speak for yourself.” Tom retorted._ _

__“I am used to trouble because of Mr. Malfoy.” Dobby said. “Kreacher has it worse because of the Weasley twins.”_ _

__“What trouble does Draco do at night?” Harry asked, wondering how Draco harassed others._ _

__“Oh no. Trouble happens to him.” Dobby said before shutting his mouth suddenly upon realizing that he was divulging too much._ _

__“What trouble?” Harry asked intently._ _

__“Yes, what trouble?” Tom asked, supporting Harry in his demand._ _

__“The other day…someone tried to remove all his luggage into a hallway. Said they wanted to get rid of the cooties…” Dobby said before gripping his pan and attempting to inflict more injury to himself._ _

__Harry frowned at the ill treatment Draco had received. “Stop him.” Harry said, commanding Voldemort._ _

__Tom easily snatched the pan from Dobby._ _

__“Mr. Malfoy doesn’t know any of this, sir. Please don’t tell him.” Dobby pleaded, his eyes wide._ _

__“Why shouldn’t I?” Harry asked. “His security is only because you keep him ignorant of these incidents. You are protecting him but the person bullying him is also being protected. It sounds like thankless work.”_ _

__“House-elves pride ourselves in not being seen when we work, sir.” Dobby said._ _

__Dobby continued speaking about how he liked working at Hogwarts and it was much better than having to work for the Malfoy family and facing their threats. The summer was dreadful and he was overjoyed when school began again. Dobby seemed to have a habit of over-sharing, and was happy that Harry was willing to listen to his words. Dobby also spoke of how Kreacher was his friend and they communicated._ _

__“Has Kreacher ever stopped anyone from bothering me at night?” Harry asked._ _

__“Dobby cannot say, sir.” Dobby answered, but his tone and body language confirmed the answer as “yes”._ _

__Harry thought of the setup of the dorms. Each person had their own four poster bed but the dorm itself was shared with other students of the same year._ _

__Harry thought of his dorm-mates: Ron, Neville, Dean and Seamus. It was best that they get along as they would be sharing the dorm for their entire education at Hogwarts. Ron was his best friend and he got along reasonably with the other boys._ _

__But Seamus did give him trouble during the first year, when he tried to get Dean and Neville to agree with his complaints about Harry’s presence and getting him moved elsewhere. Seamus had brought up the topic when Ron wasn’t present, knowing that he would disagree, but if he got the vote of the other boys it would be three voices against the two of Harry and Ron._ _

__Surprisingly, Neville was the one to come to Harry’s defense though Harry had the impression Neville was timid and Harry would not have minded if Neville gave into Seamus’ view to avoid being bullied by the more confident boy. Dean had said he did not care either way if Harry shared the dorm with him or not but this was followed by a comment that it would be better for Harry to stick around with his friend, Ronald Weasley. Because of this, Seamus knew he was defeated. The fellow Gryffindor had eventually came around so Harry did not have trouble with his dorm-mates._ _

__Harry had not known that Draco faced trouble from his dorm-mates._ _

__He thought about the male Slytherin students that were at the same year as Draco. There were five students in each dorm. Who was harassing him?_ _

__He knew that Crabbe and Goyle had to share a dorm with Draco because they were the same age but the two of them where lackeys and from Harry’s earlier observance of the three boys Harry doubted they would try to remove Draco from the dorm because they did not have issue with Draco’s transgender status._ _

__“Crabbe or Goyle wouldn’t bother Draco.” Harry said, thinking of the trio’s dynamics from earlier. “Is Blaise bothering him?” Harry guessed._ _

__Dobby appeared surprised that Harry was naming Draco’s dorm-mates but he did not seem to have any strong reaction against Blaise and Harry would be able to tell how an upset Dobby looked because of the looks he had directed at Tom._ _

__“Theodore Nott is harassing him then.” Harry said._ _

__Dobby expressive face shifted then to one that was upset and even angry._ _

__“Mr. Nott knows better now than to try and hurt Mr. Malfoy.” Dobby said. Harry imagined Dobby smacking Nott with a frying pan._ _

__“Thank you for everything, Dobby.” Harry said. “Kreacher too, but please tell him I am safe but can’t leave yet. I still have things to talk to about with Tom.”_ _

__Dobby waited expectantly, staring back between Tom and Harry._ _

__“Alone.” Harry said._ _

__“Oh.” Dobby said._ _

__“You heard him.” Tom said, giving Dobby his frying pan back._ _

__Harry had noticed a bit of Voldemort’s stomach when his shirt had shifted and could see there a cut. Harry wondered if it was from when a Durmstrang wizard had attacked the basilisk as he had been sleeping, cutting off scales._ _

__Harry asked Dobby for first aid supplies to tend to Tom’s injury, and Dobby reluctantly listened, snapping his fingers and disappearing._ _

__“How can house-elves be removed from serving a family?” Harry asked Tom._ _

__Voldemort answered and Harry listened._ _

__When Dobby returned, Harry applied the medical supplies himself while Dobby observed._ _

__“You can stay if you’re quiet,” Harry said, “Otherwise go tell Kreacher I’m safe and that I’ll eventually return to my dorm.”_ _

__Dobby admitted he could not be silent by once again departing with the supplies Harry had not used._ _

__“Do you agree to Occlumency lessons when I’ve said I cannot teach you how to shapeshift?” Tom asked, touching the side of his body Harry had just bandaged._ _

__“Yeah.” Harry said._ _

__“You have a Transfiguration teacher but I’ll just do this for you now,” Voldemort said, pulling out his wand from the robes on his bed._ _

__Tom tapped Harry’s glasses and pulled out a mirror from his trunk._ _

__Harry looked at his reflection, which was subtly different. He wondered if his face had changed but upon a closer look that was not it. Rather the design of his glasses had changed and the new frames appeared to make him look different, and more like a boy. What was this sorcery?_ _

__“Round glasses emphasized your round cheeks and soft chin. The straight line of rectangular frames will make your jaw appear squarer.” Tom explained. “Now please stop asking me to teach you how to shapeshift.”_ _

__Harry touched his jaw and glasses self-consciously. He hadn’t been aware of how his glasses affected others’ impression of his face. “Thank you,” Harry said sincerely, “Sorry for my earlier behavior…”_ _

__“You can thank me by paying attention,” Voldemort said as he began to explain Occlumency theory to Harry in order to help him with its practical application._ _

__Unfortunately, Harry could not. He’s had a long day and he felt himself become sleepy. His eyes closed._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't reach the chapters I wanted to initially post for the BB (aka the end of the weekend Harry and Voldemort first meet) so instead here is the first day. which is already 26,000 words lol.


End file.
